Today I read day 55 of the 90 day Bible challenge. I'm not sure what day I'm supposed to be on according to the reading plan, but I know today I read what I was supposed to, know what I mean? Isn't it funny how we notice different things at different times of reading the same books in the Bible? I remember being baffled by eschatalogical themes in Jeremiah the last time I read it and the time before that I was super interested in matching it up with the reign of Josiah and re-discovery of the book of God's Law. Recently, the Lord has been breaking my heart for the orphan all over again. It started with Radical: Taking Back your Faith from the American Dream, and has continued with Reclaiming Adoption, Adopted for Life, and now There is no Me Without You. Linny at A Place Called Simplicity is holding a day of fasting and prayer today and I've been praying for the orphans of the world, especially the millions of orphans in Africa.
"Human beings are not wired to absorb twelve million or eighteen million or twenty-five million bits of information... For a person who is not a mathematician, epidemiologist, demographer, geographer, social scientist, medical anthropologist, or economist- for a person, say, who barely knows anyone with one of those jobs... numbers with so many zeros are hard to fathom.... Who was going to raise twelve million children?" (There is no Me Without You, Melissa Fay Greene).
The Lord calls Himself Father to the fatherless. He has compassion on the orphan, the widow, and the alien. God can use any means possible to accomplish His will. He raised up Pharoah and hardened his heart to display His might and glory. God doesn't need me or my prayers to extend compassion to the fatherless. I just want to be part of it, don't you?
I've also been praying for the orphans with Down syndrome listed on Reece's Rainbow. Anyway, I've been very hungry and discouraged by the sheer magnitude of what I'm asking the Lord to do. So I know I was meant to read this today.
"Thus says the Lord: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its root by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.'" Jeremiah 17:5-8
I can't even go a day without food. What a humiliating reminder of just how weak I am. I can do nothing good apart from the Spirit of God. The good news is when God's people trust and hope in Him, He makes us fruitful- even when we're stuck in one of life's droughts. Notice He may not bring rain, but He enables us to bloom in the midst of the drought. Only God can do that! Nothing is impossible for God! Not even caring for the millions of orphans in Africa and the thousands of precious DS orphans of the world.
I'm so grateful I read that Scripture today! Please join me in praying that God's Word will reach the orphans of the world and that His church will be obedient to show compassion to the fatherless.
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- Celee
- I'm an on-the-run mom to 6 kids who studied and taught exercise science in a previous life. I love all things running, nutrition, and health-related. I usually run at zero dark thirty in the morning and am often quite hungry before, during, and after my run, but I live a rich, full, blessed life with my children, family, and friends. My faith in God is my anchor, and looking to Him and His promises allows me to live fully even when life circumstances are difficult. While running gives me an appetite, my desire is to hunger and thirst for righteousness more than for physical food.
I have just recently been told by TWO different friends in two different states about Radical, and also was given the book Adopted for Life by good friends of ours who have adopted two children (in the process of adopting their third). I guess all these sweet reminders are the Lords way of saying I need to get over my dis-like of non-fiction :P
ReplyDeleteI am a fiction kind of girl but I think I am going to have to make an exception for these two books. Thanks for updating and for always reminding us of the ways of God. That is so what Christian ought to do.....lift us up to the Lord and His Word.
I read Radical: Taking Back your Faith from the American Dream,back in the first part of Dec. 2010. Then as a family we prayed on our knees in our living room. Amazing things begin to happen and prayers began to be answered and all very quickly. Now here we are in Amarillo with a new home, job for my sweet dh and new adventures await us. My dh has a very Godly man for a boss and all but one of the other employees are believers. A first for him!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it is an awesome book. After the chapter about how much money is spent on buildings and how little sent to other countries I remember crying and crying. My heart was/is so broken over this! :(