A Twenty-Four-Hour Gift and a Tribute to Life Together

Almost a year ago, on the night before my wedding, I received a text from a sweet friend. She told me she couldn't decide what to give me for a gift (even though she had already given me a present for my shower), and after thinking about it for a long time, decided to give me the gift of prayer. She said she was setting her alarm to pray for me every hour for the next 24 hours. The next morning, on the day of my wedding, I awoke to find she had texted me throughout the night with prayers and words of encouragement. Talk about being overwhelmed with emotion! I wept tears of thankfulness for such a kind friend and for the outpouring of love I felt from her and so many others on that special day.

Now, almost a year since then, I have had the privilege (along with many others) of praying for her as her husband has been in the hospital with some alarming symptoms. After days of tests and no answers, they were given an answer today, and he should be better and home within the next three days. I am sooo thankful!!!

And today especially, I am thankful for a friend who labored all night in prayer for me and my marriage with Geoff. I am convinced that we are reaping the blessings of those prayers today, and will continue to for however many years we're given together.

It makes me sad to think that so many people pass their days in loneliness and isolation, when God has designed us for relationship. We need each other! We need each other on happy, joyous days like weddings, because commitments are not sustained by beautiful dresses and albums filled with artsy photography. And we need each other when spouses get sick and family members die and jobs are lost and when there are so many questions but seem to be no answers.

Are you living on an island? Swim on over (maybe get out of your comfort zone a bit?) to a place of community and true friendship. There's good stuff over here!

A Simple Challenge

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

                                                                                                        Proverbs 14:31

                                                                                                                                                     

While listening to the radio in the car the other day, I heard the dj say something like this: If you have children, this has probably already happened to you today. You’re child says, “Mom, I’m hungry; Can I have a piece of toast?” Or, “I’m thirsty; can you get me a drink?” Of course, you’re response is to feed them or give them something to drink. All good parents want to provide what their children need. As I listened, I thought the guy on the radio would say something like, “If that’s how you feel about your children, how much more does God want to provide for you?” And that’s true. But my prediction was wrong. What he said next really made me think. "What if you were a parent whose child asked you for something to eat, and your answer had to be “no”? What if all you could say was, “I’m sorry, sweetie, I don’t have anything to give you. We have no more food”? What if all the water you had to give them was infested with bacteria that could kill them?" I don’t think I had ever really thought about poverty from this angle. I’m not a parent yet, but I know that if I had a child and I had to tell them something like that, it would truly break my heart. 

Consider this: *more than 6 million children die from malnutrition every year. Or this: “Approximately 1.8 million children die each year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This is around 5,000 deaths a day." I think we are so removed and insulated from poverty like this that astounding as these statistics are, it’s difficult for us to even comprehend them. We can read them, but we have no names and faces to attach to them. That’s why I would like to encourage you to visit the Compassion International site today—even now. Look through the faces of the children who need sponsors and see if God might speak to your heart about a specific child (but don't wait for a "magical" moment; they all need sponsors!). You might take time to pray over some of the faces that you see.  You will notice that some of the children’s pictures have a little red ribbon on them. This means that those children live in AIDS-affected areas. Other children (and some of the same ones) will have a little blue symbol on their pictures. This means that they live in an area with a higher risk of exploitation and abuse. If you choose to sponsor a child, your $38 a month will go a long way in helping to protect him or her from the long-term consequences of poverty. It will help relieve the burden of parents who are unable to provide for all of their children’s needs—even the simple necessities of food and clean water. You will also be able to communicate with your child through letter writing (Compassion has made this very easy for you! You can type your letters from their site and even upload pictures onto your letter. Compassion workers will translate your letter and provide your child with a hard copy. Or you can always send them the old fashioned way!)

So, visit the Compassion International site today!

*Statistics and their sources found on Compassion web site.