Ok, so Gracie wanted to pose too :)
So between my reading yesterday afternoon and before bed last night, my quiet time this morning with Him and then the labor of love called laundry :) God began to weave together a thought i wanted to share... however, first I must share the words i read that have been swirling in my head...
From today's devotion by Oswald a question he posed jumped off the page at me, he said, "Are you relying on yourself in any manner whatsover regarding this new proposal or plan which God has placed before you?" I have been pondering this question as i share each reading below!!
As i was studying God's Word in Matthew 5:14, this verse kept creeping to the forefront of my thoughts, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."
From Love has a face by Michele Perry, this statement challenged me: "A good plan will never change a nation, but a life possessed by God just might."
From Too small to ignore by Wes Stafford (the head of Compassion International), in one particular chapter he was talking about gettting to the root of poverty. He first quoted words spoken by Henry Ford when talking about the poor, "The only thing you can give a man without hurting him is an opportunity." Dr. Stafford then goes on to explain by saying, "He knew that no amount of handouts or doing good things on a person's behalf gets to the heart of the matter, which is the inner, destructive message of 'Just give up!' When a child in poverty says, 'I matter', he has just taken the first teetering step out of poverty. This all begins with that powerful and underutilized thing called love. God's love for the individual is displayed by those people who reflect His love in thier words and deeds. It ultimatly gets understood and accepted by the child in poverty, and through that individual's love for others, the world gets changed. One changed child eventually changes a family. A changed family will influence change in its church. Enough changed churches will transform the community. Changed communities change regions. Changed regions will in time change an entire nation."
So now here is my thought:
I as a believer am called, commissioned and commanded by God to be the light of the world. And one place i know for fact that the enemy is reeking havoc is with the children who are caught in the traps of poverty, where they find themselves many times neglected abandoned, and abused. And statistics show that without the light of God dispelling thier darkness, without Him as thier hope, without the love of God within them, they will then just reproduce themselves as they have been taught with the next generation of children.
So i as God's servant, possessing the light of the world, am responsible for becoming involved in this battle on thier behalf. I can sit and plan on paper all day what to do, but that won't change thier reality today, but loving them will. I can't expel the darkness of every child but i can begin one child at a time, as can you.
If we all join in together we can each begin to change the life of a child through God's love, which then can lead to a changed family, community, city, state and nation! All it requires is loving them the way God has loved us. It is an incredible calling... bring light into the darkness!!
So since God is in the details and He is always working behind the scenes, He knew you'd be here reading today so i pose the question from Oswald above to you as well:
"Are you relying on yourself in any manner whatsover regarding this new proposal or plan which God has placed before you?"
What is it that God is asking of you to do today to show His love to another? No you can't do it alone, but whatever it is you can ABSOLUTLY do it in His power.
I wish i could tell you we were leaving tomorrow to get the boys, but we are not, however, i know God is in the details. So in the meantime i will continue to strive to be a light in some really dark places, and love the children one at a time. Want to join me? The decision is yours! LeAnn
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