When Words Make a Difference

There are so many times that I log on and see all those hearts on the map and wonder about each one of you. I wonder who you are ... what your lives are like ... if you really stop in a read the ramblings of this Arizona girl. I wonder if God speaks to you through these words ... and I wonder if these words make a difference at all. I have shared so many moments of my life and learning. I have been transparent with total strangers ... and have loved reading the blogs of those who post here. Funny how we can share this cyber-life here together.

Today's blog is going to be a bit different, and I would ask that you read all the way through and then pray about being part of this most amazing opportunity ... I am, and will be praying, that God raises up people to do so.

It all begins with an amazing couple of people who started a non-profit called Remember the Poor that seeks to provide for the people of Uganda in Africa. They work tirelessly to make a difference and provide ways for others to do the same. Enter another amazing family that has started a church called The Mission, who's focus is reaching the lost and reaching out the the orphans and widows of this world. Working hand in hand, God has used these people to bring an opportunity of compassion and love to anyone that is interested. You see, this small group of people is doing something amazing, they are working to support an orphanage in Kisii, Kenya.

This orphanage is run by a man and his wife that have such hearts for these lost children. They have taken them in and are doing everything they can to provide food and education for these kids, but they do need help. That is where we come in. God is moving to provide for these kids through whomever is willing! I could pause here to tell you stories of poverty that would fill your heart with sorrow, show you pictures that would break your heart ... but I won't. There is really no way to truly understand the depth of it unless you go there and witness their reality through the window of ours here in America. It is horrible. It is uncomfortable. It is easier to ignore, than to bear the weight of the truth of it. I know. I too have struggled with it, struggled with choosing to see what is happening there ... embracing the reality of it ... to let it sink into my soul and be unsettled about it. This is not about guilt though ... instead it is about Love ... it is about using what we have to help others ... to be God's hands and feet ... to be a blessing ... to build relationships. This is an opportunity to help children who are in need of help. Let me introduce you to a couple of them.

Meet Brian.

Diana ...


And Norah.

These are just 3 of the 15 children that need sponsors. You can sponsor their food and medical care or their school tuition (they are required to pay tuition by the government if they are to go to school) or both. A partial sponsorship is $45 a month, and a full sponsorship (food, medical, and tuition) is $90 a month. Your donation would be processed through Remember the Poor and will be 100% tax deductible. The best part is that teams from the states go out a few times a year and you are encouraged to send your child letters, photos, and small gifts. They will know you as their family here in the states ... you will have the chance to build relationships with a child on the other side of this earth ... to this child, you will be God's hands and feet. My family is going to sponsor one of the children partially (it is what we can do right now) anyone want to take the other half and help us to sponsor him/her fully? This world is really not such a big place, and we as humanity are really not that different from one another ... these children ... they are like our own ... young, fun-loving, and God's treasures ... would you please pray about helping?

If you are so led, please click on this link (The Mission) to go and fill out a form online. Message me if you want to join me in making the sponsorship of one of these children full.

May God's will be the object of your heart's desire ...

Lisa

A Little Too Much Me

I was listening to a Sermon yesterday and the Pastor was talking about letting God permeate all of your life. How He must be the center and all things us must be wrapped around and flow through Him, that His glory might be know to others ... to the nations ... to the lost that do not know Him yet. His graphic organizer of this was a set of concentric circles with God at the middle, and I as I sat looking at that set of nested circles I began to see how much like an onion I am and how much more there is that I have not surrendered. I can look at the layers on the floor and call them by name ... my children, my marriage, my work, my tongue, my health and so on. It is easy to look at the pile and remember the sometimes painful separations as these layers were peeled from me through times of deep learning and relinquished to my King ... mine and no longer mine ... these area's of my life are such blessings to me now. It is easy to forget that there is still so much more to me on the cutting board. The deeper, inner parts still so tightly bound to each other that I am not even sure how to call them by name. What are these parts that I have yet to surrender, and why do I tense up a little at the thought of doing so. Why does the idea of surrender bring trepidation, when the result brings such peace? I don't think it is the letting go. I don't think it is the fear that the Lord will be surprised or wouldn't want to the part that I am giving. I don't think it is the fear of having those deepest parts named and revealed. I think it is more a desire to not loose myself, an innate instinct to preserve self ... combined with an ominous fear over just how much is left hidden in reserve if I did daily ask the Lord to take every peace of me ... to peal back layers one by one ... carving daily a piece of self that I might get to the heart of all those circles.

How funny is it that my human response to surrender focuses on and responds to the process or surrender versus the rewards? Intellectually I get it, intellectually I want it ... but, my heart lingers pulled in a daily tug-of-war to surrender or to control. What I do know is the LORD is firm in His stance. He wants me all ... every layer surrendered. He is not a God of pieces ... He is a God of all or nothing ... black or white ... and although He is patient and waits for our hearts to align to His will ... he will not settle for anything but everything. It all comes down to daily surrender ... beginning with praying daily that He would show me that which I am holding onto ... that He would ask and take each layer ... naming it ... claiming it ... and receiving it for His glory. By daily praying for less of me, and more of Him. By willing releasing my grasp on control and letting Him have His will, with me standing in the middle of it ... instead of opposition to it.

We all have these layers. Layers that are too cherished. Layers that are too painful to release. Layers that are too comfortable. Layers that feel like they would just tear our world in two if we just gave in. Hurts that are held to long, when forgiveness feels like to big a pill to swallow. Areas of pride, that bring selfish pleasure ... rather than eternal glory. Addictions, gossip, the glittery trappings of the world, big things, little things ... things named and unnamed. I think the overwhelming fear is not that God would not take them and relieve us of them ... but that He would.

Oh Lord, search me and expose me. Call to my heart, mind, and soul the desire to let go ... to die daily in self ... to stand in your will when it comes to surrender instead of opposition. Bring me to a daily understanding of what it means to really belong to you ...

Lisa

Warning: Road Closed Ahead

I have long marveled at the people that call themselves "storm chasers." The people that literally abandon everything the minute that a storm breaks that will spawn tornadoes. They hear its call, and must follow. To some they might appear reckless and insane ... but I understand their draw. I, too, am a chaser. I chase sunsets. I have for years. I watch the clouds in the afternoon build and my heart races. I speculate about what colors will be spayed out upon them and just how grand the sunset will be. I pre-plan a plan of attack and wait for the sun to bid its farewells for the day ... anticipating anxiously that moment when I can chase the color and capture it with my camera.

Today was such a day. The clouds were perfect ... the conditions were right ... I just knew that there was going to be a great sunset ... and there was. The only problem was that the sun has begun to set earlier and earlier and I was about 5 minutes late in leaving my house. Like any of the famed tonado chasers on T.V. I sped down the road to my predetermined spot to take the picture, watching the light dim, the colors intensify ... knowing that I might just miss its creciendo ... praying (literally) that God might just hold it a minute longer for me ... allowing me to capture the beauty that what was making my heart race. I hit every green light. My chances seemed good. I had my camera in my free hand, and was feeling pretty confident that I would indeed make it. That is until I drove up upon a sign complete with flashing lights that said: "Street Closed." Really? For real?

I paniced for a moment ... glanced at the sun's farewell display which was just peaking. What was I to do? I was temped to drive around the road closre sign. My "spot" was within sight. My only other option was to take the detour through the housing subdivision to my right. Where would it lead? I did not know. But, I did know that the sunset was minutes away from over, so I took it. Driving down the road ... my eyes watching the light fade ... the urgency in my herat pounding ... I came out on a street that runs through my neightborhood as well and turned west. Within minutes, the road ended smack dab into a huge dirt field ... the perfect spot to shoot sunsets. Nothing from me to the mountains to break the scence. I pulled into the edge of the field and jumped out of my car only to realize that the most spectacular moment of the sunset was indeed over. Now based upon my description of my passion you might imagine that I was creastfallen ... that I view the chase as a failure ... but it was actually a win. You see I found the perfect spot. The spot that I will return to the next time that the sunset draws me to it. It is perfect. It is mine.

Driving home I began to realize that there is a life reminder in what happened tonight. You see there are so many times in life that we run into road blocks. Times when we are on a set course and God throws up a barricade that stops us in our tracks and redirects us. We have a choice to make when this happens though ... we can turn around and backtrack ... we can go around the road block and continue on the same path ... or we can let go and follow the detour path that God has provided us and in doing so find that what He has for us is so much better in the long run than what we had started out chasing. Thank you Lord for the reminder ... may I always face the detours with the same enthisiasm as the journey that led me to it.

With that said, I could not resist sharing some other sunset and cloud pictures that I did chase down on other days in the last week ... I do so love chasing ...

Lisa

A Few Poetic Words

Wow, it has been awhile. I have never taken such a long break from my blog ... and I can't help but wonder if there will still be anyone that comes to check in. :) So, if you are reading this, thank you for coming back. Sorry, I have been gone for such a long time!

It has been an amazing summer. God and I have been working on learning what one on one time means. I have run the gambit of feelings ... from loneliness to excitement ... and have learned so much. Those lessons though are for another day, as I am still in the process of putting to words what I am learning.

One thing that this time has done was awakened the poet within me ... and that is what I thought I would share today.

Today's poem is about coming home to God ... about realizing that I was a weary traveler ... feet dusty ... legs tired ... yearning for home.

Welcome Me Home

Here I am
once again
returning to you
a child of sin

Tired of wandering
longing for home
returning to the place
where all is known

Wrap your arms around me
call me your own
as I run towards you
welcome me home

Splay my heart open
just lay it all out
search every part
leave no room for doubt

Call me by name
make me your own
as I run towards you
welcome me home

Lay my life open
wash my soul clean
teach me to serve you
to know what that means

Take all my burdens
as I lay them down
to honor the one
who's head bore the crown

Wrap your arms around me
call me your own
as I run towards you
welcome me home

-Lisa 2010

From time to time each of us will wake up to find ourselves far away from home. As humans, we are prone to wander, and there are so many roads that tempt us to follow them. Maybe that is you right now. Maybe, like me, you have been caught up in the hectic pace of modern life and simply fall further and further away from God because you don't make time to spend one on one time with your Father. Days lead to weeks, and weeks to months ... and before you know it you are feeling disconnected and alone. Maybe it is something else. Maybe it is something completely different. Whatever it is, the amazing thing is that our Father is waiting right at our side for us to turn around. Notice that I said, "right by our side." You see, although the prodigal son had to walk all the way home to his father's house ... our Father is only a heartbeat away from us ... no matter how far we think we have gone. So, if this is a time like that for you ... just stop walking. Seek God. Ask Him to welcome you home ... home is closer than you think.

Lisa