Passing praise

 Prasie God that little Sidey is now out of the hospital!  =)  Thanks for joining me in praying for her.  Please continue to pray for her and the other kiddos at Namwianga.

I LOVE MY JOB!

Recently I've been asked to help lead the profession of faith class for 4th and 5th graders at my church.  Teaching kids about God is one of my favorite things, so I jumped at the opportunity.

This past Sunday was our first class, and I was a bit apprehensive about the class, mentally going over what I was to cover and uncertain of how the kids would respond, especially knowing that 8 or the 9 kids were boys and that a few of those boys could be quite rowdy.

As the kids arrived, I made small talk with them, asking about the highlight of their week, what they did over the weekend, etc.  One little boy walked in and, over the other kids talking, declared that this weekend he had seen Sasquatch.  He then began to detail his big foot hunting adventures, and I began to doubt how seriously he would take the course and how ready he was for it.

And God humbled me through him and the rest of the boys in my small group.  I wasn't sure how these 4 boys would respond to the material, and God pleasantly surprised me.  As we talked about what they hoped to get out of the group, I was encouraged to hear how eager they were to learn more about God.

Wrapping up our time together, God humbled me further as I asked the boys for prayer requests.  I fully expected them to ask for prayers about their pets or a scraped knee or what have you.  No!  The first thing out of the Sasquatch boy's mouth?

"Sharon, can we pray for the people who can't do what we can do?"
"What do you mean, Alex?"
"You know: the people who can't think like us because their brains are broken, or the people, like, who can't walk right or are paralyzed or their legs just won't work."
"Yeah, of course we can pray for them!"
(Another boy in the group piped in) "And can we pray for the people who don't have money to buy, like food and stuff?  And for kids who don't have parents and are all alone?"
(My excitement's growing at this point) "Yeah!  Of course we can pray for those people too, Chase!  Those are really good things to pray for, boys!"
(Another boy) "And can we thank God for letting us have a party for my great-grandma's birthday?"
"Of course we can thank God for that, Evan!  What else can we thank God for?"

Wow!  I expected these boys to be egocentric and they blow me away by asking to pray for the disabled, homeless, poor, orphaned, and lonely, they ask if we can ask God for the blessings in their life.  Wow!  These young, rambunctious boys ask to pray for the things that God has commanded us to pray for.  And they didn't neglect to thank God for all that He's already provided them!

It definitely was a humbling experience.  Not only did I underestimate them, but it also convicted me of how often I forget to pray for the people who God cares so deeply about; I get so wrapped up in myself that I forget about the greater world around me.  Perhaps these young boys will teach me more that I'll teach them through this course.  =)

LORD, thank You for humbling me.  Thank You for opening my eyes to Your truth and Your heart. Thank You for the hearts that You've already given these boys for you and for other people.  LORD, please lead and guide me as I lead and guide them.

As you think of it, please pray for me as I lead this small group of boys (and as my supervisor leads her group).   Pray that they will grow in wisdom and stature as they draw near to God.  Pray that God will use me as a vessel to reveal Himself.  And pray that throughout all of this we will be filled with the love, truth, and justice of God.  Thanks!

Cripple

A Skeptic's Guide to Global Poverty

 

o   Poverty is not only an economic, but also a cultural and spiritual challenge.  It takes not just money to defeat poverty; it takes moral will and personal sacrifice.
o   In general, poor people work harder than anyone else
o   Poverty not only lack of income but also lack of health, education, and opportunities
o Literacy involves a continuum of learning to enable an individual to achieve his or her goals, to develop his or her knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in the wider society
o   Illiteracy directly affects a person’s ability to work a reasonably high paying job, to exercise the rights of citizenship, to read important safety and health information, and even to be aware of impending danger.
o   Until a person experiences the reality of poverty and understands the difficulty of accomplishing even simple things, it is hard to truly empathize with the poor.
o   A key solution to suffering lies in providing a voice for the poor- in providing hands on advocacy that brings the rule of law back to poor communities – Gary Haugen

~A Skeptic's Guide to Global Poverty by Dale Hanson Bourke

We thank God for that!

A little update on Ruth.  Here visit to the clinic was helpful; the doctors were familiar with her case and gave her an iv to re-hydrate her.  She was at the clinic for 4 days and is now home and doing better.  Please keep praying for this precious little one!

Restoration

In art, restoration often involves returning a piece to it's former glory: cleaning up the residue of age, touching up parts of the piece that have faded with time, showing the current audience all of the splendor and beauty that the artist intended for the original audience.

As I seek to understand God's restoration in my own life, God's challenged me to think further than this.  When God speaks of restoration, He isn't simply referring to bringing us back to the time before we first sin or before we first experienced the brokenness of our fallen world.  No!  God challenges us to go further than that, challenges us to see who He created us to be before the beginning of time (Ephesians 1:4-5).  He longs to show us what it means to be restored in Him and to Him, longs for us to know life apart from our sin nature. He wants us to understand the completeness found solely in who we are in Him.

More so, God wants us to understand that this restoration is something that has already taken place!  We have a future hope in Christ, AND we have hope in Christ NOW!  For God has already restored us through the death and resurrection of Christ!  Our God is mighty to save!  God has not left us in our shameful state or our brokenness; He has replaced our shame with a double portion, our disgrace with everlasting joy (Isaiah 61:7).  In Christ, we are completely restored, for it is no longer we but Christ in us who lives (Galatians 2:20).  We have been restored, COMPLETELY restored, in Christ and to Christ!  Our God is mighty to save!

LORD, teach me to live in this restored life.  Teach me to live as a vessel of You.  Teach me to live a life free of past regrets and sin, free of striving, free of self-seeking sinfulness.  Teach me to live as Christ.

Further prayer

PLEASE pray for baby Sidney who was severely burnt in a horrible accident. Shehas already lost her twin sister, fought to live through a measles outbreak and now needs healing from this. Thank you!

Oh how I love this sweet little one!

Calling all warriors

From Amber and Jako, friends in Zambia

Dear friends, family, and cherished prayer warriors - it is time for urgent prayers once again.  We want to ask if you will please keep the newest addition to our orphanage (Ruth) in your prayers.  She came to us last week, weighing only 6.7kg's (14lbs 12 oz) at 1 year and 8 months of age.  While we didn't expect her transition to our orphanage to be an easy one (in less than a month she has dealt with the death of her mom (her father passed away earlier), been diagnosed with HIV, and lived with 3 different families) but we hoped that with some good nutrition (she was living only on plain cornmeal porridge), and loving care from the housemothers that we would see a quick improvement for this very sick, precious, little girl however her health has continued to decline.  Along with her bouts of crying, lack of interest in food, diarrhea, and a general "failure to thrive" she has lost more weight and at only 5.4kg's now (11lbs 14 oz) her health condition is getting more serious every day.  Tomorrow she will be taken to the local village clinic for her HIV review so we are asking for prayers for her, wisdom for the doctors, and grace and strength for the housemothers in caring for her.  Our prayer is that God will grant Ruth favor and mercy and that she will be brought to health and strength in order to know and proclaim the love and care of our heavenly gracious Father.

 

On a more positive note - remember little Isaac who we asked for prayers for earlier?  Here is a more recent picture of him.  When we got back from South Africa we couldn’t believe it was the same baby! Thanks be to God who truly hears, cares, and answers prayers.

 

with much gratitude and appreciation for your prayers and intercessions for us and the ministry and thanks to God for his watch care, healing, and provision,

 

Jako and Amber Joubert

 

Mission of Love Community Orphanage

Mukamba, Zambia

www.missionoflovezambia.blogspot.com  

PLEASE PRAY FOR THESE PRECIOUS LITTLE ONES!