What is means to be a missionary

    Last month in the London airport Moriah and I got into a discussion about our trip to Kenya with a fellow passenger. Amidst all the things that were said, the one thing that jumped out at me was when he asked us, “what does it feel like to be able to tell people you’re a missionary? “

      “What does it feel like to be able to tell people you’re a missionary?”

       As I stood there in that security line, in the midst of all the chaos that accompanies an airport, I felt a soft tug at my heart, in that one question God suddenly brought me to a new understanding of what being a missionary really means…according to His standards. As the man we were talking to so eloquently put it “there is a lot of weight with that title,” and there is indeed.

      According to the world’s standards, being a missionary means you are a messenger of God with a specific mission and everybody knows that so they begin to watch and evaluate your life till everything you do is measured according to the standards of that title. But being a missionary is so much more than that. It means that you represent God more than the average Joe because of the work you are doing, you almost become a “symbol”of all that His is and all that He cares about. People say “missionary” and they immediately associate that with God...and rightly they should.

     You might think this sounds cocky or proud but really I have just described the average Christian. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “missionary” as someone undertaking a mission. So you see, as Christians we are all missionaries since we have all been called to undertake the mission of reaching the world. Some of us might be called far away and others to our own city, but none of us are more important nor have more authority than the other. With this goal in mind each of us needs to embrace this calling, living worthy of the title, so as to give the world the kind of symbol they need: Christians that point to God with every word and action. For that is really what missionaries are: average people following in God’s footsteps, changing this world through His love one person at a time. This is why the commission is a command not a choice, command that we can choose to obey or disobey. The choice is ours to obey or disobey, but let me just say. God does not view as a choice. To Him this is a command of eternal consequences..for us as well as others. We can choose to make it a choice, but to Him that is blatant disobedience.We have been given such a short time on this earth to reach as many people for the kingdom ad possible, let us make the most of it.

       Our eternities are not the only ones in question for our choice effects others. Don't mess with God's plan and certainly don't mess with the eternities of others. Reach out to them before it's too late! Make the most of our time here before we go home!

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves……You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles….But… do not worry about what to say…. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”  

Matthew 10: 16, 18-20

“For the glory of God!”

A thankful heart

       Tonight as I sit here pondering all that God has done in, through and for me this year and all the past years, I am filled with gratitude and praise. I look at how far He’s brought me and how much He’s carried me through over the years. All the heartache, pain and trials He’s helped me overcome, along with all the joy and blessings He’s heaped upon me and I am in awe. I’m amazed and humbled that God would care enough about me to be so attentive to my life and caring of my needs.

       Through Him I am so abundantly blessed that it is impossible for me to write down all the reasons I am thankful! I am flooded with a heart of thankfulness as my mind runs over all these things. There are literally thousands of gifts along the pathway of my life that are a cause for thankfulness. This year I have a few more reasons to be thankful. I am thankful for the beginning of the journey to fulfill my call, new friends, first time mission trips and the beautiful continent of Africa that has completely stolen my heart! But most of all I am thankful for God and all that He is to me!  I thank the Lord for WHO He is and what He has done!! This last reason alone is enough to make my heart to sing His praise! He truly is the greatest gift we have and the most important reason to give thanks!

“Your mercies are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!”  

 Lamentations 3:23

"For the glory of God!"

Older sister = role model and friend

     “Do you ever notice how she studies you?” Mama asked me, referring to my 6 year old sister Lolly. “I often see her watching you but not just watching, she studies you. Intently studying your features and watching you while you talk.”  

       Such a simple statement emerging from a simple question yet it stopped me cold. I suddenly realized she was right. Lolly, this sweet little sister who has been “my” little girl since her birth, is always watching and listening to me. Constantly asking my opinion of things and looking to me for advice. It never occurred to me that my answers and the way I conduct myself around my little sisters carries weighty consequences.

      I carry an impact on how my sisters will turn out when they grow up. They look up to me for older sister guidance, copying my example and trying to model me in every way they can. As their big sister I have a chance to make an impact in their lives, to be a good role model to them, to influence them for the better. My actions may very well deter them from or encourage them towards the path of righteousness. This is both a blessing and a duty. It’s a privilege that carries great responsibility. How I choose to handle this responsibility may very well change my sister’s lives.

    I feel God has charged me as a big sister to ensure that I am giving them a good role model and someone they can look up to for both spiritual and" “worldly” advice, someone who’s example shows them what a young woman of God should look like. In the past I have not done my “job” well. I have failed to give them someone they can look up to in the light of Christ, seeing Him mirrored through me. I have failed in my duty to Christ in this area of my life. From today on I am striving to be the sister they need me to be. The sister who lets Christ outshine her and fills her sisters with His light and love. I will strive to be a friend to them and and a role model they can copy, a model who enables them through her actions and words to live for Christ and come into their own walks with God! Each day that I am home this is my mission field, pouring Godly influence into their little lives!

“In everything set them an example by doing what is good….” Titus 2:7

"For the glory of God!"

My sweet bedbugs!<3 My BFF! <3

The orphan crisis

        Today there an estimated 147 million orphans are around the world. I recently read a quote where someone said "In the past, people used to care for the orphans and loved them, but these days they are so many...and therefore orphanhood is a common phenomenon, not strange." This is sadly all too true. The fact that every 2.2 seconds another child is orphaned and only 12% of these children receive support for their basic needs…not counting their medical or spiritual needs. In 2010 it was predicted that in less then 5 years there would be 50 million orphans in just 16 of Africa’s 53 countries, today there are 34 million in sub-Saharan Africa alone. A recent study by UNICEF reported that “AIDS has already orphaned more than 13 million African children, half of whom are between the ages of 10 and 14.”  These same studies show that every day 38,493 orphans age out of the system by age 16, of which 10-15% of them commit suicide before they’re 18.

        60% of orphaned females either sell themselves or are forced into prostitution to survive after being orphaned or ageing out of the system and 70% of the boys become criminals having been reduced to stealing to survive. 1.2 million orphans are forced into human trafficking every day. 1.2 million! There is something wrong with that picture!!! These children are being forced into situations that we could never imagine all because they don’t get the care they need!!!! These children have been through worse trauma then we could ever imagine and it’s just going to get worse for them. Because they are uneducated they will never amount to anything nor be able to survive if they don’t get help.  Fr. John Lynch said “Unless we reach out and act now, a whole generation of children could die before our eyes."

       There is something wrong with Christianity today if we are not taking a stand for the cause of the orphans and considering these numbers it’s obvious that we’re not! There are not enough people in this world who are willing to help these children. As Christians we are commanded to care for the orphans. Christ has been very clear about that. Our faith is not pure in His eyes if we are not caring for these children. Thousands of orphans starve to death every day. We have a chance to stop that, to make a difference in their lives, to save their lives!

        Is your heart breaking yet? Mine is. Has your heart been touched enough that you are impacted to do something for these children? Mine has. I will not stand idley by as these children are suffering, I am going to spend m life working for these children and helping them. Today is Orphan Sunday, a day in which the body of Christ unites in support for the orphans of the world. This is the day in which we remember the orphan and so something to help them. For most people these shocking statistics are just numbers but for me they are so much more then that. Until you have seen and held these children it is hard to fully understand. I have been there. I have held countless crying children, I have heard the heartbreaking question “why are my parents dead and yours are alive?” I have laughed with them, cried with them and broken my heart for them.

        Today is Orphan Sunday, a day in which the church unites for the cause of the orphan. A day in which YOU change a child’s life. By sponsoring a child you not only provide meals, housing and school tuition but also medical support, spiritual  help and love. When you sponsor a child you extend Christ’s love to them and form a lifelong relationship with them. Many people hear these statistics and pity the children but do nothing to help. Please don’t be that person. Be the person who hears and pities,  but allows their pity to be the motivation behind a sponsorship. Let today be the day you take that step and start a sponsorship.

               “For the glory of God!”

orphansunday.org 

http://everyorphan.org/

http://www.worldorphans.org/ 
 http://www.missionariesofafrica.org/articles/sr/SpRptFall06.html