I am only one...

I am only one, but I am one. 

Helen Keller

One might say...
 'in a world of 143 million orphans there is no way I can make a difference'. 

Tell that to Layla

who just came home in August from Ethiopia and into her loving family.
She is no longer a number... a statistic... or a child forgotten in a orphanage.
  She is now a beloved daughter being raised in a loving Christian family. 
She has been released from certain death by a loving Heavenly Father who called HIS children to adopt and THEY LISTENED.   

Tell that to our sponsor daughter:

Viola at Bugaboo Village, Uganda where just a month ago she was found in the home of her grandmother being starved to death because she was the oldest and grandma had to CHOOSE who to feed and who to let perish!  Our dear missionary friend went to her home and begged to help her.  Viola, and her younger sister, Rittah now live with them.  www.compassinmyheart.blogspot.com (A year of care including school, school uniform, vaccinations, books/school supplies, 1 meal a day, and the knowledge of Jesus Christ is $100.00 a YEAR!  Viola's sponsorship was Tim's Christmas gift to me last year and to think in that year she could have died, but she didn't... she LIVES!) 


Tell that to the mother in labor in Ethiopia where 4 in 10 woman die in child birth because there is only 1 doctor for every 35,000 people.  Most people NEVER see a doctor in their life-time.  Tell the same woman who received a $10 birthing kit, that saved her and her baby from death, that one person can't make a difference!

  She will tell you other-wise.
  Go to:  www.bemm.org to learn how you can donate a $10 birthing kit.







These individuals are living proof that ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Americans are some of the most blessed and powerful people in the world.
We are over-flowing with gifts, but are we sharing them?  
 






The Bible teaches:      
"Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.  At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.  Then there will be equality, as it is written:  'He who gathers much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little'   2 Corinthians 8:13-15

“The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164 million needy children.
 And at first glance that looks like a big number.
 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians.

The truth is that if only 8% of the Christians would care for ONE more child, there would not be any statistics left.”

 ~From the book Kisses from Katie

So we say...

"I'm not called to adopt"

 or "I'm not called to sponsor"

 or "I'm not called to go on mission trips".

Well... I beg to differ.
 WE ARE CALLED, if we are Christians

God is very clear when HE says:
 "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit". 
Do we believe that those words are for each of us? 
HE didn't say: "Go...if you want to"...
HE said GO!

So how are we going?

Are we supporting missionaries that are in the field?

Are we coming along side a Christian orphanage or orphanage staff?

Are we adopting?

Are we sheltering the homeless, the down-trodden?

Are we hoping because our church supports them that somehow we are covered? 

We have decided that we do not want to stand at judgement someday before our GOD and KING and rely on the words "Well God.. our church did those things, or I know a missionary, or I prayed...sometimes". 

Do we believe what the Bible says when it tells us that

 WE ARE HIS HAND and HIS FEET?

Do we believe that HE will give us all we need to do HIS work?

HE knows the need,
HE HAS CALLED US
 and we only need to be willing.
  
Last weekend Brandy Wade and I sat at a booth to raise funds for Because Every Mother Matters 
www.bemm.org and God poured out HIS blessing.
 
A few things I learned this weekend... if it is HIS Will then it is His bill. 
 I also learned that HE has blessings to pour into the lives of HIS children, HE is just waiting for us to do what HE has called us to do, then HE moves the mountains.

A week ago I was more-or-less attacked by a good-willing 'christian' that informed me that "the races should stay with their own" and "that God has obviously put those people in their place".
  This was her response after I told her we were adopting from Ethiopia. 
Her attitude was such that I could tell that in her mind I was some kind of crazy person that obviously"can't have her own kids' so unlogically I'm headed to Ethiopia to pick out some kids.
Her self-righteousness aimed to correct me.
Well, her thought process made me think...
Have I fallen into that line of thinking myself in the past?

 Have I believed that somehow I must have done something right for God to place me on this side of the world and into a white home?

AND have I somehow thought in the past that 'those people must deserve their fate?'

I am afraid she is not the only "christian" that falls into the "I'll pray for them" category but never does, then remains feeling justified in thoughts of superiority.  

Well... I have news for those lost individuals...
  We will stand at judgment someday and answer to our God in heaven for what we did or didn't do for HIS sake. 

It breaks my heart that my God looks upon HIS creation and sees that we have so little feeling for each other. 
That thought brings me to tears...  

So... because I love you I am telling you what I have learned.  

God calls us all!

To That poor woman who blindly believes 'those people are in their place'...
may I put her in hers: 

Either you believe the Bible is God-breathed and true down to every word,
 or you don't.  

Either you believe that the Bible is true and when it says 'Eve is the mother of all living'
 thus making her mother to my child in Ethiopia and to you,
 or you don't. 

Either you believe that God will separate the sheep from the goats, those that did his will from those that didn't,
or you don't. 

BUT not believing any of these things doesn't excuse us from HIS wrath. 

Sometimes I think we unknowingly love people right out of heaven by feeding them the line of love but not teaching what God expects from HIS children, and what making HIM LORD of our lives means. 

Unthoughtful woman...

did you ever think maybe 'those people'

 are the people God was speaking of when he told us to share? 

So we in our abundance don't have too much, and them too little?  

  

May we not fall into the same trap, the same carelessness of that self-righteous woman. 

May we all learn to listen and act in response to the commandment of 

 "Go into all the world"

God bless you and God open all of our eyes to HIS will.
Angi