Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Recounting and Remembering God's Faithfulness

Boy time has flown. I can't believe the last time I blogged was on Christmas day. We are now in April and I wish I had more time to keep this blog up to date but it just seems that there are more pressing things to do. At any rate, today is Monday --- my sabbath day where I intentionally do not have any thing planned in the evening so that I can do whatever I feel like. It seems a perfect opportunity to just blog as a way of 'resting in the Lord.' But alas, there are many thoughts flowing in my mind about all the things I need to do. Isn't it funny how active our minds are. So why blog now? Well, I really want to share what has been happening because I find if I don't write it down, I will forget these spiritual markers that are shaping my journey and how easy it is to forget and not be thankful for God's faithfulness.

At the beginning of the year I expressed to the Lord my desire to experience and see the maximum amount of His glory that He would want to reveal to me. I got this idea from my favorite bible teacher Beth Moore. God has not disappointed. He continues to direct my path especially with the opportunities to share more about and bring awareness to the issue of Child prositution in Cambodia. Over these past months, the Lord has opened doors in different venues for me to speak on this issue and how grateful I am to see others who are joining with me to form an 'army of the Living God' who desire to give a voice to the voiceless. I am thankful to the 'core group' that He has raised up that encompasses 24 people (and growing) from 7 churches. Our raison d'etre is simply to use our what the Lord has given us to push ahead and raise awareness of this issue. We are excited at putting together a conference later this year on September 29th that we trust God will use to draw people near and far to come and learn and take action.

But in the midst of that, I have had the privilege of attending a Children at Risk conference in early March in Anaheim, California. It was so inspiring to be among many fellow believers who have a heart for working with children at risk. Who are these childen that are risk---they range from child soldiers, to orphans, to street kids, to children who are sexually exploited. While the problems and the challenges seem so huge, I was reminded again that we need to move from shock to seeking to make a difference one child at a time. It was great to hear of the strides being made in different corners of the world and to network with others whose hearts are committed to making a difference in the lives of the next generation. As I think of this, God has been gracious in giving me a verse that has been my vision as I enter this phase of my life. The passion to invest in these lives whose spirits have been so crushed by the lusts of man stems from my faith in God that as we commit to investing in their lives He will bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair so that they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour. Isaiah 61:3

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