"My hand is still upon you"

So much has happened over the last year.  God continues to show me that He is in control and never ceases to amaze me. Recently, I have been struggling a bit.  One day last week I was driving to Chick-Fil-a to get breakfast for my daughter before I drove her to school. On the way there I was talking with God.  Praying that I would be in the center of His will always, remembering places in the Bible when God's hand was upon a person or group of people and whe He chose to remove His hand from them. Praying that His hand would still be upon me. I clearly heard the Lord say "My hand is still upon you".  In my very candid conversation with God I began to tell him I couldn't understand why and that I really didn't feel like his hand was upon me. Yet again, I hear "My hand is still upon you".  I pull back into the parking lot to pick up My daughter and take her to school and as I do, I notice a police car.  I got out of my car and asked my neighbor  if he was ok.  I had noticed him standing on the sidewalk as I was leaving but I just thought he was waiting on a ride.  My neighbor began to tell me that his car and another neighbor's car had been broken into during the night.  The police officer asked me to check my cars and make sure nothing was missing.  Nothing was missing!  While driving my daughter to school, I thought about what had just happened.  You see, there were only two cars between my car and the cars that had been broken into. Also, I had forgotten to lock my car the night before and my keys were actually in my car along with my purse and wallet!!  Once again I hear "My hand is still upon you".  

Thank you Lord for your confirmation. If Your hand is upon me, than I should get busy at the the kingdom work you have set before me. 

Crazy idea

The beginning of a crazy idea. 

Got up at 4 am. I started reading my bible because that's just what I do when I wake up in the middle of the night. I usually figure The Lord has something for me to learn if he has me awake. So I am going to share all this with you, my friends and readers. 

Non profit name... Possibly "Love Share"

Non profit purpose:

1. Come alongside locally established orphanages to provide support and encouragement.

-sponsorships

-connecting them with other organizations that can help meet a need

-educational assistance

2. Educating parents on proper nutrients & hygiene so they feel better equipped to care for their own children 

- clinics in the villages. Provide wash cloths, soap, comb, mosquito nets, vitamins, rice & beans, toothbrush, tooth paste and instructional materials.

Love share : Love god. Love people.

Loving orphans and educating parents.

Verses that lead me in this direction:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40 ESV)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV)

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:7-11 ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47 ESV)

Whatever you have done for the least of these you have done for me.

He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:18 NLT)

The Lord protects the foreigners. He defends the orphans and widows, but he blocks the way of the wicked. (Psalms 146:9 NCV)

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27 ESV)

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22 ESV)

Ephesians 5:8

for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8-10 ESV)

Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14 ESV)

Romans 12:2a

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2 ESV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1, 2 ESV)

These are all scriptures that I have been given in the middle of the night.  I have written them down over the past year.  Praying for God's direction and wisdom as to what I am to do with all of this. 

Productive day

It has been a productive day.  We found the place we will purchase the mattresses.  Ms. Vicki & I had our hair made:).  Then we purchased supplies for tomorrows outreach in the village. We also purchased a dvd playerdor the children's home and some popcorn for the movie party we will have this weekend.

Productive day

It has been a productive day.  We found the place we will purchase the mattresses.  Ms. Vicki & I had our hair made:).  Then we purchased supplies for tomorrows outreach in the village. We also purchased a dvd player for the children's home and some popcorn for the movie party we will have this weekend.

A day of rest

I woke up and had fresh pineapple and sweet bananas for breakfast, two of my favorite things to eat while in Kenya.  Ms.  Vicki had already left the compound to run an errand.  When she returned, I asked how I could best help her today.  She replied Oh no sister, today is your day if rest and then we shall get to work.  

For those of you who know me well, you know that I don't rest well.  I'm trying to be obedient and rest.  However,  I would rather be working.  I have walked around the compound, played with the children and that's about it.  I can't wait till this day of rest is over!

Made to Kenya with 200 lbs of luggage!

Made it to Kenya.  Had a wonderful visit with Josh & Ruth Barron and their 5 children. I enjoyed meeting the CFM team that that work so closely with.  Today I fly to Kissumu,  where Ms . Vicki will pick me up from the airport.  Wamzy is my sweet driver today.  She is a girl from the Barron's church.

Funny luggage story: Wrangling about 250 lbs total luggage has been interesting.  When i arrived at NBO we exited the plane via stairs.  There was no way i could get all that luggage down the stairs!  Thankfully, there was a good southern boy wearing an LSU hat that volunteered to help carry my luggage down the stairs.  I then had ti gi get the other 150 lbs by myself at baggage claim,  load it onto a cart and go outside to meet the Barron family.   Thankfully,  Josh helped with akl my luggage from that point. On my way back to the airport to catch my flight to Kissumu I was one bag less and 50lbs lighter.  However,  i still had about 200 lbs of luggage.  Wamzy,  the sweet lady driving me today helped me make it across the parking lot and guided me to check in.  I then had to take over all the luggage again.  I took all the bags through security and was thankful to deposit the two larger bags at the baggage check.  That left me with my carry on luggage and my large backpack,  totaling 100lbs. I have a system though... I stack my backpack on top if the rolling suitcase ant it is easy!  If course that was the perfect plan until I had to climb the stairs to board the plane.  Thankfully, a nice gentlemen saw my dilemma and volunteered to help.  As if that wasn't enough, upon boarding the Kenya airways plane for Kissumu my carry on bag would not fit in the overhead compartment. Oh yes!  I was officially the crazy lady with too much luggage.!!  I got a variety of looks. Some people felt sorry for me, some we disgusted and others smirked a grin and tried not to laugh.  I am sure it was comical.  Finally the flight attendant just moved me to another seat. I had one seat for my luggage and one seat for me :).  Thankfully Vicki brought one if the boys to take care if the luggage!!  Praise the Lord!

Worship

Psalm 100:2

New International Version (NIV)

²     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.

In working with children one of the things I love is how they worship with abandonment.  Nothing holds them back.  They do not care what the people next to them are doing and they each have their own style. You may worship sitting, standing, singing, praying, dancing or even laughing.  In Xtreme kids I have noticed we have wild worshipers, performers, serious worshipers, and the "I'm too cool for this" crew. 

Each week there is a small group of children who are wild worshipers. You will find them hip hop dancing in the back of children's worship. They even dance wildly during the slow songs. Everyone will be singing softly lifting their hands and voices to the Lord and these children are singing and doing the coffee grinder or cartwheels in the back of the room.  It makes me smile knowing they can worship with all their energy.  On a few occasions I have thought about correcting them with the whole "This is a slow worship song speech".  You know the one where children are told "let's stand still or sway during the slow songs".  However, each time I start to head in their direction I am reminded that David danced before the Lord and who am I to tell them how to worship! They are engaged, participating and having a blast worshiping our Savior. Dance on kiddos!

In the front of the room, there is a group of girls that are all about the motions and the words on the screen.  They are the performers putting on a show for Jesus each week. They giggle and dance with each other and interact with the praise team.  They are all glitter, bows and everything frilly.  Along with them are my cool boys!  They enjoy worship and doing the motions and dance moves. Those boys can certainly rock out on the air guitar on every guitar solo during worship (that's when the girls giggle and try to join in the air guitar playing as well).

There are the serious worshipers,  they are contemplating the words of each song as they sing them, raising their hands in praise, eyes closed and totally unaware of anyone around them.  You can just see the praise on their lips and the joy in their souls as they give all their worship to the Lord as a gift they are placing on the alter. No one would dare speak to them or interrupt their worship time.  As a matter of fact, if you tapped one of these serious worshipers on the shoulder to get their attention they would jump in fright because they are so tuned into worship.

The "I'm too cool for this crew", who sits but reads the words on the screen and enjoys watching everyone else around them.  They can fully tell you the meaning behind every song but if they actually had to participate it just might kill them!  Along with them are a handful of boys usually 5th & 6th graders who think they are too cool but realize worship is just so much fun they can't stop.  They stand near the wall with arms folder for the first few minutes but something inside them overtakes their bodies and they begin to worship! However, if they are noticed or "caught" worshiping arms are quickly folded and the cool stance is assumed until once again they just can not contain themselves. They make me laugh and make me sad at the same time.  It is fun knowing they love to worship and just can not contain themselves.  It is sad to know that somewhere along the way their creativity and freedom of worship has been stifled.  Maybe it was a look or a comment from a peer, maybe it is just the awkward age they are experiencing trying to grow into a "cool" teenager but living in a "fun" child's world.  I will often go over and dance near them just to make them laugh!  I tell them "It is okay to have fun in worship, no one is really looking at you!".  

 Worship really gets interesting on weekends when we are invited to go into "Big Church" for a part of worship.  I love taking the kids in with the adults however... I'm not sure the adults would agree.  You see, children are for the most part active worshipers.  Somewhere after the 6th grade there is a decline in how actively engaged you are in worship.  I always ask the adults to stand and participate with us.  Most of them stand, about 5% actually participate.  However, the children rock out for Jesus anyway.  I find this so interesting because a survey taken by the Barna research group stated this:

Worship Was Top-Rated
Upon examining the pillars of faith practice, the survey revealed that three-quarters of all adults, and 92% of all churched adults, said that it is very important to them to worship God. Next most important to adults were the ability to learn about their faith (63%) and to experience moral and spiritual accountability (59%). Slightly more than half of all adults listed serving the needs of the poor as very important (54%). A minority of adults described each of the other four endeavors as very important: sharing their faith with non-believers (44%), feeling like they belong to a community of faith (41%), donating their time and money to the church (39%) and meeting with other believers (39%). 

If worship is top rated why do so many people feel inhibited to worship freely as they enter into adulthood?  How do you worship? More importantly what kind of example of worship are you setting for your children?