Ella Grace

Every thing really does change once you have seen their faces, once you know their names and once you have held them in your arms.

This little lady went to be with Jesus yesterday afternoon. Her name is Ella Grace. She had only been at OLTCH for six weeks. One of those weeks was the week my team and I were there.

It's risky business to open up your heart, especially to the least of these. It's risky business learning to love dangerously. But it is SO worth it, even when it hurts, even when it doesn't make sense. One of the things that Karen shared with me during my time at New Day was this, "Mandy, the reason we do what we do in caring for orphans is that I truly believe that every child deserves to have a room of people weeping over them when they leave." (They may leave this life to be with their Maker or they may leave that place with their forever family.)

My team and I had the privilege of people a part of the "room" of people in the life of Ella Grace. We knew her name, we saw her face and we held her in our arms.

Pray for our friends at OLTCH. 

Praise Him for the life of this dear little one.

good words

I love it when I stumble across other people's writing that really stirs my heart.

Both of these quotes I read on other blogs that I (stalk) read. Really my main purpose in posting them again is so I have a place to write them down so that I can be reminded of these good words.

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." -Miriam Beard

“So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world… Love someone who does not deserve it… Give your approval to all you cannot understand… Ask the questions that have no answers… Be joyful though you have considered all the facts… Practice resurrection.”

-Wendell Berry, from Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

orphans...

"Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes." -David Platt

I think it's safe to say that everything has changed... 

these faces...

...stole my heart.

May we never be the same...

I can't tell you how excited I am for the opportunity to go with THIS team to Haiti!

My prayer is the same as it was last summer.

I am trusting that HE will be huge,

expecting each of us to be changed,

to return different,

to come back more like HIM.

My "phrase" from 2011 continues.... oh that it would be true of my life.

What a privilege it truly is to be involved in the lives of people. 

What a privilege it is to have the opportunity to see what the Lord is doing around the world.

What a privilege it is to GO and to serve with dear friends.

What a privilege it is to be a child of the King of Universe.

What a privilege it is to know the Gospel and to have the opportunity to share it.

vision

"If you don't have to pray about the vision for your life, then your vision isn't big enough."

what I want the most...

I love little nuggets of truth. 

Good words.

Brief statements, words that shake you to the core, that challenge, that encourage, that continue to run through your head and penetrate your heart long after you heard them.

"Have I ever wanted something so much that I would make the bricks to build it?"

My friend Judy asked that question as she was processing her recent trip to Uganda. 

That got me to thinking about what it is that I really want. 

Then my friend Abbe shared this little nugget with me... 

"The reason most people do not succeed is because they trade

what they want most for what they want at the moment."

She asked me what it is that I want the most out of the upcoming trip that I am going on with this amazing team.

I am still working on how to best answer that question but here's some of raw unedited version... 

I know that what I want the most is for the Gospel to go forth, for us to get out of the way and for the Lord to work in and through us and that we would in NO WAY hinder the work that HE is already doing in Haiti. I know that what I want the most is for this group of people to come back to the US different, changed, more like HIM. 

I know that I am trusting that HE will use this trip to show each of us more of His heart for the nations, for orphans, for people. 

I know that what I want the most is to love deeply and to serve selflessly and to point people to Jesus with each and every opportunity. I know that what I want the most is to go to Haiti with THIS group of people at this time to this place to see what HE has in store.

I know that what I want the most is for God to get ALL the glory.