The dictionary defines missions as: the vocation or calling of a religious organization, especially a Christian one, to go out into the world and spread its faith; a strongly felt aim, ambition, or calling It's missions month at our church. Every year we take one month and focus entirely on what God is doing in the world through Koinonia Church. I love it. I love hearing the stories of our missionaries. I love hearing about other causes and the people with the passion to live for the cause. It is my favorite time at our church. I just love missions. Confession: I secretly want Pastor Jeff's job. Who is the pastor of missions. Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. Along with Go into all the world...God asks us to defend the cause of the orphan and fight for the rights of widows. Adoption is such a huge part of missions. Anyone who has adopted has brought a child, into their family and has called them their own. Does this story sound familiar? God has called us his sons and daughters. It says we were predestined for adoption to sonship, through Christ Jesus. He calls us His own. Adoption is love. We are answering God's call to adopt. But there is so much more! He just doesn't want us to quietly go to China and adopt our baby girl. There is a need. There is a call. There is a mission in adopting. And God wants to people to know about it! To be honest this shoe drive is WAY out of my comfort zone. I would rather keep to myself and not explain that.... we are collecting old shoes to hopefully get 5,000 to raise awareness about the orphan crisis. If it were completely up to me I would pick up as many shifts as I am humanely able and pay for everything ourselves. I don't like asking for help. I don't really like talking about the possibility of needing help and I certainly don't like asking for donations. It's super uncomfortable for me in almost every way possible. It's a I can do this myself, thank you very much attitude that is not from the Lord in any way. But really, adopting a child is completely not doable alone. At the minimum we need 4 friends to write extensive letters, vouching for our suitability as parents. We need one family that will take our children in case anything ever happened to us. We need our bosses to write letters for us stating we are in good standing order with our work. We need notaries, we need doctors, and therapists. We need friends and family to watch our kids while we are at lengthy adoption classes. All to help us complete just the first stage. When we ask people to help us we are mostly accepted by a warm smile and a huge helpful attitude. But there are the few that look at us like we're crazy and we've just asked them to give their right arm for an orphan in another country. It's at those times I want to crawl into my hole and not talk to anyone-ever. Isn't it crazy that God calls us the "Body of Christ?" No part can work entirely on it's own. 1 Corinthians 12:15 says "If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?" No one is independent of the body. When God wants to work through us to accomplish something, He is going to involve other people. Guaranteed. We can't do it alone. How much I would love to do God's work in the comfort and safety of my own home - that's got to be an oxymoron. We are the body and we have to work together. Could God open up shift after shift after shift for Ben and I to work to pay for our entire adoption- absolutely He could! But how many more people would it reach to force us to spread the news around Hanford about the 900,700 orphans in China? and the 147 million worldwide. God is calling us to adopt and it seriously takes a village! He loves a little girl in China so much that He has stirred in our hearts to set out for her. He will pluck her out of her situation and place her in a family with a future and a hope. It's such a beautiful story that we get to be a part of - but we can't keep it all to ourselves. So just so you know when I've posted for the 100th time on FB or IG about more shoes, I'm dying a little inside. But ultimately I am dying to my pride and my flesh with the hope that I am arising with a faith in God. And a part of a mission for His Kingdom.
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Kelty. Archives
September 2018
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