My heart broke with Ann's as she recapped her feelings following a week in Haiti.
Anger, shame, disbelief.
When you see, smell, and hug abject poverty first hand, all these emotions spill.
God wants you changed and he drags you through the worst slums so you can come closer to choosing Him over your own comfort.
That is the choice, really.
Sure, you can start out with $38 a month--an amount to sponsor one child. An amount you barely notice.
But then, if you so dare, God will change you at the core. He will mold your heart so your very beats match His...for nothing gives the God of the Universe more pleasure. This is happening to our dear Ann.
Do you want the same heart? Or is it too scary?
Luke 12:48
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Ann is angry that she still has a desire to pin the latest pretty thing on Pinterest, after all she's seen. Angry that she still loves comforts.
And yet she sees her choice clearly and there's no turning back. More and more, she and her family are choosing God over comfort. Giving over receiving. Being the blessing, instead of spending the blessing.
The first step in saying yes to God's heart is to allow yourself to drink in abject poverty. Absorb it with your eyes, your intellect. Don't avoid that story, that image...anything that jerks you awake. Let yourself wake up to God and His will.
God didn't allow rich and poor so that some go hungry and others grow fat. He allows the disparity to give us a chance. A chance to love radically, like He did on the tree.
That is His desire for every believer's life. That we would love radically. Love is our destiny.
And yet, He doesn't want us to share out of guilt, but with a cheerful heart. A heart that pumps gratitude, along with blood. A daily thanks-living for the gift of Grace.
As much as Ann's post broke me, my heart loved getting this photo in the mail from Raphael, our correspondent child from Burkina Faso. It pictures his mother, his baby brother, and food supplies they bought, along with details about roofs for their room and some clothes. We had some money given to us in February and now, Raphael has a roof that doesn't leak! (He also has another sibling and his father in his home, but they must have been unavailable for the photo).
It takes so little to change so much. Won't you be a part of the change? Won't you free yourself from comfort, so that God becomes really, really enough?
Luke 12:34
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Anger, shame, disbelief.
When you see, smell, and hug abject poverty first hand, all these emotions spill.
God wants you changed and he drags you through the worst slums so you can come closer to choosing Him over your own comfort.
That is the choice, really.
Sure, you can start out with $38 a month--an amount to sponsor one child. An amount you barely notice.
But then, if you so dare, God will change you at the core. He will mold your heart so your very beats match His...for nothing gives the God of the Universe more pleasure. This is happening to our dear Ann.
Do you want the same heart? Or is it too scary?
Luke 12:48
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Ann is angry that she still has a desire to pin the latest pretty thing on Pinterest, after all she's seen. Angry that she still loves comforts.
And yet she sees her choice clearly and there's no turning back. More and more, she and her family are choosing God over comfort. Giving over receiving. Being the blessing, instead of spending the blessing.
The first step in saying yes to God's heart is to allow yourself to drink in abject poverty. Absorb it with your eyes, your intellect. Don't avoid that story, that image...anything that jerks you awake. Let yourself wake up to God and His will.
God didn't allow rich and poor so that some go hungry and others grow fat. He allows the disparity to give us a chance. A chance to love radically, like He did on the tree.
That is His desire for every believer's life. That we would love radically. Love is our destiny.
And yet, He doesn't want us to share out of guilt, but with a cheerful heart. A heart that pumps gratitude, along with blood. A daily thanks-living for the gift of Grace.
As much as Ann's post broke me, my heart loved getting this photo in the mail from Raphael, our correspondent child from Burkina Faso. It pictures his mother, his baby brother, and food supplies they bought, along with details about roofs for their room and some clothes. We had some money given to us in February and now, Raphael has a roof that doesn't leak! (He also has another sibling and his father in his home, but they must have been unavailable for the photo).
It takes so little to change so much. Won't you be a part of the change? Won't you free yourself from comfort, so that God becomes really, really enough?
Luke 12:34
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
2 comments:
SO convicting! My husband and big boys are planning a trip to Guatemala and I know it will forever change them for the good. Thanks for sharing these truths.
Dear Tesha, what a blessing that your sons are going too. When our children learn about disparity early in life, it makes them highly effective world changers. They have their whole lives to be the change.
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