God's Heart for the Oppressed

Facts:

• Every day 5,760 more children become orphans
• Each day 38,493 orphans age out (are released from the orphanage because of their age)
• Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home
• These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals
• Another study reported that of the 15,000 orphans aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000 were homeless and 3,000 were in prison within three years…
• An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year; (THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2005)
• 2 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion-dollar commercial sex industry. (THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2005)

(From http://www.orphanhopeintl.org/facts-statistics/)

Over the last year, as I have pursued God's heart for the orphaned, I have learned about the atrocity that is called human trafficking/prostitution.  If you read the facts above you will see how orphans and trafficking/prostitution are clearly closely related. These kids are not just numbers. Grouping the children together-1.2 million children trafficked-does not describe the individual lives that are being destroyed by men buying them for sex . Each one of the children that make up the 1.2 million child has a story. Each child has lost their parents most likely and some have even been sold into the sex industry by their parents. But, each child has been given life by the Creator, who gave you and me life. Therefore, their life is just as valuable as yours and mine. 

These trafficked children are being raped numerous times a day.  They are being fed little and some are kept in cages.  They likely know no human touch, except when they are being raped by men buying them for sex. They are full of shame and guilt for the life that they must live. Each trafficking situation is different, but they likely include one or all of these.

What is God's heart for these children?

He declares them His alone:

³ For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,
    and without money you will be redeemed. ”

Isaiah 52:3

He gave them Jesus:

“1Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
    and he will bring justice to the nations. "

3...in faithfulness he will bring forth justice...
4 He will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” 

Isaiah 42:1, 3-4 

He anoints us to help in His releasing them from captivity:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners.."

Isaiah 61:1

 

So that's what I'm doing. God has a different plan for all of us, but I am attempting to live my life in a way that is completely given to God for Him to use for His purposes, which for me I believe is the release and healing of these children.

Seeking God...Living for a Wedding Day

Changes cause reflection and I have experienced many changes recently, so I have been doing a lot of reflecting and here are some of my thoughts. They are revealing and honest, but here they are.

I look at the lives of a couple of women around me and at my own life and see that we have come out of a hard season. The seasons vary in difficulty, but they were still hard. The overall lesson learned after reflection: Seeking God is hard, but worth it to know more of His heart.

Sometimes seeking God's face isn't always going to be easy or fun.  Sometimes it means forgiving when you really don't want to and by worldly standards you really shouldn't have to forgive them. Sometimes it means giving up the comforts of your life to love the orphaned, when the orphaned don't necessarily even want/trust the love you offer.  It means giving your life fully to the healing of the brokenhearted without ever receiving a thank you.

Sometimes seeking God's face means trusting Him even if there seems to be quite a few unanswered prayers.  Sometimes it means choosing to trust Him when nothing makes any sense.  When you thought you had it all figured out and God reveals that He has different plans (and trusting that the different plans are better than your own).  To seek God's face no matter what circumstance you find yourself in. To trust that He is enough to get you through whatever heartache or hardship is happening in your life.

Sometimes following God means choosing to seek Him, although you may be completely worn out and just plain tired of seeking Him. Sometimes is a conscious choice to trust Him. Sometimes you have to choose to seek Him even when you feel the weight of the pain of the circumstance you or someone you love is experiencing and the weight feels heavier than what you can bear. 

To follow God means trusting Him and His goodness though pain and suffering seems to be all you can see.  If He is good then why is there all the pain and suffering? I have learned that there is not a simple textbook answer.  I have learned that God is far bigger than my question. While He loves me, He has not given me a mind that can comprehend all that He has done, is doing, and will do.  I must trust Him for the things of today and tomorrow, knowing that He is good-no matter what. And I as trust Him, I will fall deeper in love with Him. This is His desire and this is what is happening in my life.

And in reflection of the hard seasons I have seen God come through so clearly in both my life and my friends.  I have listened to these women speak of the wisdom they have gained and been so encouraged by their ability to stay steadfast in faith--no matter what. I am so grateful for the example of that these women, whose faith is solid and unchanging. If they can trust Jesus with the hard things then so can I and together we see Jesus move in both our lives.

So after the hard season this is what has happened. My faith has been strengthened and I know God's heart better.  I am more in love with Him, the Creator of my heart. I trust Him and trust that one day I will see His face and experience a wedding day, standing before the Lover of my soul dressed in white. Knowing that everything I did for Him was not in vain, but absolutely worth it to show my love and devotion to Him, for He is love and He is good.

My weakness and His strength

Do you ever get to the point where you have had enough? Where you truly come to the end of your flesh? You know that point where you honestly come before God and say "I want to do what you are asking me to do, but I can't do it in my flesh. I need Your strength." Or sometimes there's the "I don't want to do what You are asking me and seriously doubt my ability to do that anyway, so You're gonna have to change my heart AND give me the strength the do what You're asking me.." These are truly conversations that happen in my head (well, i might whine a little more in my head but you get the point).  This semester has been filled with more of these conversations than in any previous semester.  

Honestly, these conversations hurt. If you have had these experiences you know what I'm talking about. We as humans really like to rely on our flesh and would rather avoid painful experiences, but Jesus is changing my heart towards wanting to avoid hard things-so much to the point that trials are almost exciting.  Because I know that after the pain and tears I will know God's love in such a deeper way.  That doesn't mean that the process isn't difficult.  This process in my life looks something like this: First, comes the revelation of my sin-followed by tears.  Then I have to humbly confess it and not just to God, but to a trusted friend(s)-more tears. Then this is when Jesus' beauty is a little more evident because my friends can speak correction and encouragement into the sin in my heart-more tears at the revelation of His beauty. Jesus meets me in the mess of my heart and shines a new light.  A transforming light. It hurts, but there is beauty (and joyful tears) to be found there.

This past semester has very much been about God clearly displaying the weakness of my flesh and my inability to do what God is asking, and all about God's strength.  When I cannot walk anymore, He carries me.  This is the relationship we have:  He asks me to do something and I say "No thanks God, I'm clearly too weak for that." BUT, when you tell God you are too weak for something then you better be careful because He is likely to lead you to do that very thing and His strength will be clearly on display the whole time. It's like He is flexing His muscles. After I tell Him no thanks, He proceeds to change my heart AND gives me the strength to do it.

So, what was the biggest lesson I learned this semester?  I am incredibly weak and God is incredibly strong. Paul had some thoughts on this...

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Where is the Beauty?

²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. 

Matthew 27:27-31

God has been challenging me to see what His beauty really looks like.  It is easy to see His beauty when things are easy and going "right".  It is easy to see His beauty when the sun is shining, birds are singing, and big puffy white clouds are floating overhead.  It is easy to see His beauty in a child's smile who knows they are safe and dearly loved by their parents. It is easy to see His beauty in the scriptures when it describes Jesus sitting among the people and children, listening intently to Him preach.

But is there beauty when it's rain in coming down so hard that you can't see?  Where is the beauty in the death of a loved one, when someone is sexually assaulted, when suffering comes, when darkness seems to be inescapable?  Where is the beauty when evil seems to be overtaking all good things?  Where is the beauty in the King of the World, the One who loves perfectly, comes in flesh to this world and is stripped naked?  Where is the beauty when the One who holds my heart has blood dripping down His forehead from a crown of thorns? These things don't seem beautiful, but it is there we just have to look closer.

In my Jesus' nakedness and the dripping blood, my God is showing me His love.  He is in the process of writing the greatest love story I will ever know.  That a perfect God would send His perfect Son to earth, knowing that ones He came to save would beat Him close to death and hang Him on a cross to die.  Then three days after dying, the Son would rise.  He would come back to life, conquering death.  Showing that even in pain, suffering, and death, God's love could not be hidden.  His beauty cannot be hidden. 

Even in the ugly of the world, God uses suffering to draw us ever nearer to Him. Where is the beauty in death? Death of loved one means that they finally get to experience Heaven, a place where there is no pain or suffering. And those remaining on earth must rely even more on God. Where is the beauty in sexual assault? It can bring life into the world and that baby can bless a family who couldn't have a baby on their own. Or the process of healing from the assault could lead the survivor to know Jesus for the very first time.  I am not saying that these things are not devastating and cause your entire world to change. They are incredibly difficult things to experience and require a process of grieving, but there is beauty to be found in even the ugliest of situations.

So when things look ugly and terrible on the surface, if the situation looks awful and painful, full of darkness, I am learning to look deeper. I am learning to look with the eyes Jesus died to give me.  That does not mean I don't weep over the pain or that my heart doesn't break when I see these things.  But with these new eyes He has given me, God is unveiling a deeper beauty that causes me to fall ever deeper in love with the One who made ALL THINGS beautiful.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11

A Story of Healing...

If you know me and/or have been following my blog for any amount of time you know how my heart breaks for children who have been abused, orphaned, trafficked, or anything such as those. The greatest desire of my heart is to be God's hands and feet to help these children find true healing from all the evil that has been done to them.  So when I read this post my heart broke and then was filled with joy and amazement at the stories of redemption that God writes.  His stories hold more beauty then we could possibly image.


"And every day I'm thankful that I've been rescued and that my life has been redeemed by the God who can make beauty from a mess. And I'm thankful for a family who became His hands and feet to reach out with a love that heals—reached out to the likes of me." 

Read the rest here --> http://www.truewoman.com/?id=2048

For HIS Glory

He guides me along the right paths
   for his name’s sake. 

Psalm 23:3

I am SO EXCITED!! to finally know where I will be in the fall.  While plans have changed numerous times I have made a final decision. However, yesterday after I finally decided what to do, God took a firm hold of my heart and mind and reminded me why exactly I am going where I am going. Skip to last paragraph if you don't want to read all this. The main point of the post is summarized there ;)

 Plans fail for lack of counsel,
   but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22

I cannot describe how grateful I am for God placing me in the community of believers He has. I talked with many people in making the decision.  One thing they all made very clear to me was that God will be glorified no matter what decision I choose. He is jealous for His glory and He is absolutely right to be so jealous for His glory. Praise the Lord for many wise advisers because if it hadn't been for numerous people clearly explaining benefits of graduate school, I definitely would not be going.  I had felt like God was pointing me in different direction.  God was definitely opening doors for me to work in a residential treatment facility for children with behavior problems.  And sometimes when I get my eyes really fixed on something I feel God is leading me towards its hard for me to see what else He might be doing.

But the night before I was going to call and except the job offer at the residential place, I got an acceptance letter from UNI for the Master's in Social Work program.  I was honestly very much closed to the idea of grad school and said I was definitely not going!  I wanted to just make a final decision. No more indecision!! But after talking with my brother and his wife, it seemed like grad school was something I actually needed to consider. So, as I am trying to make a very important decision that will affect the next two years of my life, I went to Salt Company (Student ministry). The talk was on making decisions in a way that honors God.  REALLY?? God definitely knows what He is doing! Why do we ever doubt His sovereignty?

It was so great. One of the things Alex said was how sometimes, God is more concerned about the motivation behind the question than the question itself. Or we can ask God the wrong question. And that sometimes God presents two options for us to choose from, neither of which are necessarily wrong.  Instead, He wants us to seek wisdom and for us to choose.  God will make His name great in either decision we make.  Jeepers...this could not more describe my situation!!

So, I closely examined my heart motivation why I would or would not want to attend grad school.  God did some pulling up of weeds in my heart. I had to change the question from "Which choice will better equip me?" to "Which choice will bring the most glory to Your name and serve to best further Your Kingdom?" While the first question isn't all that bad, the second one does not include the words 'me', 'my', or 'I'-lest I forget the focus, which is God and not myself.  After seeking wisdom, praying, and a few tears (though much less than you might expect ;]), I have decided to attend UNI to get my Master's in Social Work!! With which I hope to become a therapist after I gradate, but we'll see if that's still the case in 2 years ;)

But God revealed to me through this whole thing that I am getting my MSW for His glory.  While I will be attaining more knowledge to help people who have experienced trauma (among other things) and will be able to make slightly more money and have more job options, these are NOT my main reason for choosing what I did.  For HIS glory, I will go get my MSW, so that for HIS glory I can help people heal and know Jesus as their Savior and Healer.  True healing only comes through Jesus. And for HIS glory, the people I help might someday be able to tell their story and help others heal and know Jesus as their Savior and Healer .  There is bigger picture He is painting than just mine. It's not about me, but all for HIS glory.

He guides me along the right paths
   for his name’s sake. 

Psalm 23:3

Gifted--Not Entitled

Here is a list that the world tells me (and most everyone else) I/we deserve:

1. A dad and mom who loves me
2. Safety-being able to know I will not be harmed when around my parents, family, or at school
3. Many nice clothes
4. A car that runs
5. A comfortable job
6. A comfortable bed
7. A hot shower
8. Meals 3 days a week/snacks in between (personally something with chocolate ;])
9. Ability to see
10. 2 Arms and 2 Legs
11. Ability to hear
12. A cell phone
13. A computer
14. An education (Kindergarten-->College)
15. My own family someday
16. Biological children

I have every single one of the above listed items (with the exception of 15 and 16..not yet anyway). These things are not bad, when they are not idols.  However, we have become so accustomed to having them that we forget that they are GIFTS!! We ARE NOT ENTITLED to these things. They are given to us by God.

NOT EVERYONE HAS HAD SUCH BLESSINGS.  And when we meet someone who has not had such blessings, we don't know how to act around them.  Which, if we're honest with ourselves results in us ignoring them or pushing them away. Rarely do we give of ourselves for those who have not had such gifts handed to them.  We very rarely give up our gifts to come along side and love those who have not been gifted in the ways our world tells us is "normal".

However, this is EXACTLY what Jesus did.  Jesus gave up His place in Heaven, His place of perfect unity and peace with His Father.  He did not have to ever feel pain, hurt, or suffering.  Jesus gave up His comfort, to come down to earth to die a death He certainly did not deserve. He died the death of a criminal. He knew what would happen on earth and He still came (Luke 18:31-33). The perfect Son of God was stripped naked, beaten, mocked, spit on, hung on a cross and murdered.

Jesus gave up everything that was good, for me and you.  He was stripped naked, beaten, mocked, spit on, hung on a cross and murdered for you.  How dare I think that I deserve any one of the things listed above and how dare I look down on anyone who does not have those things. (Conviction is bringing tears to my eyes) THEY ARE GIFTS! So, I will attempt to follow Jesus' lead and lay down all these gifts at the foot of the cross--the very place He laid down His.

However, before you go feeling guilty about the way you have handled your gifts let me leave you with this.  If God has given you these gifts than PRAISE HIM!! He loves giving good gifts to His children and He loves when we slow down enough thank Him for them.  They are to be used for the glory of His name. So glorify His name with them, instead of hoarding them yourself/myself.

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:4-5