When Life Hurts: Loneliness {And Fourteens Ways to Drive Loneliness Away}

{To listen to the audio, join us here at Hope Stream Radio.}

No one escapes loneliness. It doesn’t matter how many friends you have or how much family surrounds you, there are times in all of our lives when we feel completely alone.

I’ve known loneliness in my life. I’ve been lonely, as I’ve lived with the people who know me the best, as I have left large gatherings teeming with people, while sick and shut-in and while well enough to get out.

I was so ill when discharged me home after three months in ICU, doctors warned us that we should do everything possible to not be exposed to even the common cold. This was necessary precaution, but it didn’t do any good for my basic need to interact with other people.

My outings were limited to medical appointments, which only reminded me of how much I was shut out from the rest of the world. I was able to stay connected to the outside world through social media. While Facebook gave me the illusion of being connected, it left me more isolated and failed to make up for real life connection.

They say we have never been more connected as a society and at the same time we have never been so lonely. Loneliness has become an epidemic problem. 

We have withdrawn ourselves from one another. We keep ourselves busy and distracted. We say we have a lot of friends, but do we really cultivate deep friendships?

We’ve made it more about width than depth when it comes to our social circle. We discard relationships as easily as clicking ‘unfriend’.

I can tell you I know the bitterness of loneliness in our online world. But, I have also known the sharp sting of it in a real wide web of people.

No one with a heartbeat will escape loneliness. And it will stab at your heart. There are seasons in life that will leave you more prone to loneliness. When death takes away loved ones, when health fails and leaves you shut-in, when children take wing and fly from the nest, when for any reason you are abandoned in a bustling civilization, loneliness hurts.

But, even in your loneliness, don’t be deceived into believing that you are alone. 

We do need to do better for one another. We all know how much it hurts so why do we leave one another in our loneliness?

Are we keeping ourselves so busy and distracted to keep away from doing the real work of relationships? 

You stay busy with activity and you lose out on time to really connect by simply being together. It is happening in our homes, our neighborhoods and our churches.

“What should we do about it?” we ask.

There is no shortage of ways to drive away loneliness. 

Think about one of these ideas:

Reach out to someone who needs you as much as you need him or her. If you are lonely, guaranteed you can find someone else who is lonely. Make it a priority to care for others who are lonely.

Take a break from social media. If you are on any social media, regularly evaluate the level of distraction it is for you and if it is hindering real life connections, step back for a set time.

Go for a walk with a friend. Get outside, get some exercise, and do it with a friend. It provides opportunity to talk about life.

Invite a neighbour in for tea. Sipping tea with a neighbor is a lovely way to develop a friendship. Whether it is in one of your homes or in the yard while the children run around with wild imaginations. Step outside of your comfort zone and get to know a neighbour.

Host a family game’s night. Everyone bring treats and games and you are set for families to spend an evening together. Build settlements, yell “Pit!”, split your sides with laughter at the charades, and get sticky caramel sauce all over your chin.

Be vulnerable and invest deeply in friendship. It takes time and faithfulness to stick closely to someone through thick and thin and build enduring friendships. The joy that comes from having a friend you can turn to at any time is worth more than any cost it might demand of you.

Visit a senior who lives alone. Some of the loneliest people in our world are seniors who are living alone. Aging, health limitations, and busy families cause those who have celebrated many birthdays to be more prone to isolation. Let’s do better at making sure those who live alone are not so lonely.

Include a single person in your family’s activities. Don’t be surprised when a friendship with a single person blesses your family just as much or more as your family may encourage him or her. Set another place at your family meal table, laugh loud with them as you play Dutch Blitz, be available to listen to their hopes and fears.

Plan a simple party in your neighborhood. All you need are simple invitations and a neighbourhood. The party could include ice cream. Other ideas include road hockey, a community dinner, or picking up garbage on the side of the road.

Stay connected with family. God places us in families and the joy that comes from family is as real as the heartbreak that can come from fractured relationships. Live with an attitude of humility with whomever grows up into your family tree.

Attend your church meetings. Consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Open up your lives and homes with those whom you regularly gather together to corporately worship the Lord. Grow in the grace Lord Jesus Christ together, pray together, sing together, exhort and build one another up.

Join a community of people with similar interests. Pick up an old hobby or acquire a new one. Surround yourself with others that can help you develop your abilities. Support others to develop theirs. Always be ready to discover something new.

Get to know someone who is different than you. Don’t close yourself in. We are all unique. Always appreciate those who are not the same as you. They can expand the world you live in and help you to develop compassion for those who suffer from things that are foreign to you.

Brighten someone’s day with a smile. Just do it. A genuine smile can transform a person’s day. Be generous with your smiles.

Forty of the Endless Ways to Help Others When They are at the End of the Rope

{A little reminder to enter the GIVE-AWAY this week on the blog.

Your chance to win a new, signed by the author, encouraging book is pretty high right now.}

The year I would turn 38 my cardiologist told me I was to stop all strenuous activity as my heart could not and would not hold up to any kind of strain and he was not sure how much longer I had to live.

It was a hard pill to swallow. I had fought hard up to that point and to be told to stop was like being told to give up.

I soon realized, it wasn't giving up, but it was surrendering to a whole new level of trusting God to fulfill His purpose in me to the praise of His glory.

We want to be self-sufficient. We don't want to be dependant upon anyone else. We don't want to be vulnerable.

God used many people in my life to teach me a humbling lesson in life.

In opening up my hands to surrender what God had ordained, I had to open up my life, my world, to those who desired to come alongside us and care for us in this time of crisis.

Not only did doctors and nurses and my husband and family help me when I could not help myself, we had countless others who poured out into our lives in varying ways and degrees.

We can not repay anyone for the kindness extended to us, but we are ever thankful to God for revealing His steadfast love and faithfulness through others.

As we continue on in this journey we are grateful for the opportunities that we can pour out the grace we have received to others in times of need.

There are endless ways to extend practical love and it may be as simple as reaching out a strong arm with a warm hug.

Or as empowering as humbly bending the knee with an earnest prayer.

You may bring comfort when you with come with a listening ear and a silent tongue,

a sincere smile,

a simple meal, a pot of soup, a frozen casserole,

or when you weep with those who are weeping,

and laugh with them when the mourning turns to joy.

Your demonstration of compassion may be as mundane as scrubbing their toilet,

mowing their lawn,

washing their laundry,

sweeping their floor,

weeding their garden,

caring for their animals,

or hiring them a housecleaner.

A little goes a long way when you drop off a sweet treat,

or deposit a monetary gift for the mounting expenses,

set up an online community to provide steady help with a myriad of needs,

deliver their mail,

shovel the snow off their driveway,

knit them a shawl,

take them for a pedicure,

email a Starbucks gift card or two.

Don't underestimate the impact you will have when you hang a wreath on their door,

wash their windows,

write them encouraging words,

drive them to a medical appointment

or their children to school or extra-curricular activities,

repair their vehicle,

surprise them with a completely unexpected gift,

fill their fridge with groceries

or their van with gas,

plant pansies in their urns,

mail them a book with a scarf,

or a cheque,

or come to fellowship with them when they are shut-in and can't participate at meetings at the church.

The way you generously love and care for their children:

teaching them,

feeding them,

shopping for them,

comforting them,

hoping with them

 . . . will be a blessing far greater than you will know.

These are only a small handful of the ways that will encourage those who are
hanging on in hard times and will remind them that they are not alone.

For although suffering is often a lonely road,

no one ought to ever suffer alone.

You Are In the Right Place {Meditation of My Heart Mondays}

It's the morning after Mother's Day and you know what's on my heart?

I want to pack up and fly to Africa.

It's not because I want to escape from the mundaness of Mondays, especially after a day that can leave a women feeling like a failure.

Sometimes, I think it might be Africa that will help heal my heart. Break it and make it contrite and compassionate.

I know.  I know. It's crazy.

Heading to Africa is a crazy idea for someone who is not fond of hot and humid temperatures. And fond really may not be the right word for someone who lives with 30% lung capacity and has a hard time breathing in such conditions.

But, it's not a new idea. It's been in my heart for thirty years. Ever since my grade 3 teacher, Mrs Graves, shared her stories and treasure from Africa with her students way up here in Canada. I remember the snake skin she brought in and how brave ones ran fingers along the scales. There is no way I can go to a country with snakes like that. She is the teacher who taught me the old song: "Oh, we're from Nairobi; And we're on the best team; We do the Watusi; We're seven feet tall . . . "

She is also the one who reasoned from God's Word and explained the Gospel and persuaded me to believe the Good News of Jesus Christ.

A piece of my heart has been in Africa since I was eight year old, but it would seem a thirty-seven year old heart that has severe aortic stenosis has no place in Africa.

I've grown up hearing missionary stories, I've worked for an agency that forwards funds to and supports missionaries all over the world. I've wanted to go into all the world. I read many stories to my children of people who have gone. But, here I am. Here in Canada with a piece of my heart in Africa.

Still, it wants to pack up and fly to Africa on this morning after Mother's Day.

I know I'm not brave enough to face the big snakes and horrid rodents, I know I'm not sure of how my health would handle the heat, I know I'm not a risk taker to pack up and head halfway across the world.

I know that there is a huge ache in my heart for women who are oppressed and these women being rescued from the slums of Nairobi and all over the world who need to come back to the Father.

I know there are women who need to have the hope of the Gospel explained to them and given ways to release them from bondage.

I told my family that I don't want anything for Mother's Day this year, but to help women around the world who are oppressed. Young women who are mothers before they were ready. Young mothers who are left to fend for themselves and bear children that may end up just like their mothers if no one steps in to intervene and reach out with hands of compassion and love and share the hope of the Good News.

On Mother's Day, Ishmael, the director of the Shelter of Hope in Kenya, is in Canada. It's the hottest day of the year here so far and he says it's cool compared to where he lives. He stands in front of our Canadian congregation, our local body of believers meeting together to sing praise to God and receive teaching from God's Word, and he tells us he will try to keep it short since this is America.

He begins with thanksgiving for his life, his salvation, his wife, his family, the work he has to do for the Lord. He shares the work that began in 2007 and that is growing today. They have a vision to see the work of the Lord increase. People from Hope Bible Chapel in Kenya, who have very little, rejoice when they receive all that they have been given as from the Lord and give what they have that they might persuade others to believe. They know God will provide. They know God is faithful.

Ishmael waves his arms with the Bible in hands, exhorting us to look up. He challenges us, "Have you forgotten where you've come from?" If you have been raised up . . . then seek the things that are above. Look up for that is where our hope is. "There is no time to be wasted!"

He has his Bible open in Colossians 3 and reads the first seventeen verses and when he finishes the reading, he appeals to us, "If the Church can discover the power of love; we can do great things. We must open up so that the Holy Spirit can teach us to love one another."

It's a powerful message. This man who know what poverty looks like, he knows how to feed souls starving for more of God.

I wonder, does he looks around at all we have and see the poverty of souls here in America.

When he looks out to us I lean in so as not to miss the words he punctuates with strong feeling and he interjects, "You are in the right place. Because people are here. The Gospel is meant for people!" I scrawl these words down on paper and my heart is pricked.

The Gospel is meant for people. 

You are in the right place.

Because people are here.

The Good News is to be explained and shared and the love of Christ binds the broken and heals the sick. We must put on love and share the love of Christ that some would be persuaded to believe.





Later, when we are together for a bar-b-que, Ishmael shares quietly in a kitchen in Canada how they need a teacher to come to Kenya. Immediately I long to go. I know. I think it's crazy for an unqualified teacher, with a broken heart to even entertain this idea.

But, I don't deny that I want to pack up and fly to Kenya. I want to be with these women who use their time and hands now to make paper beads and string them into necklaces. I want to share the love of God with them and the orphans. And all I can do it buy a few of their beads.



I wake up in Canada on the morning after Mother's Day and there are people here.

My heart is torn.

The harvest is plentiful. Souls are starving and Christ came to set us free from bondage; to bring us back to the Father.

I look up. As one chosen by God, set apart and beloved, I am to put on a compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, patience and above all these, love.

I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ, for the work He has called me to do.

Whether here or in Africa, all I can say is, "Here I am Lord, send me."

photo credit: {children in Africa} Chris Atkinson

Words of Wisdoms for the Weekend ~ Encouragement, Compassion and Hope ~ We Can "Do Something" this Mother's Day

"And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 

therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest." 

{Matthew 9:35-38} 

He saw the crowds and had compassion on them . . . because they were helpless. 

Mothers, women who mother, women who bear the bruises for the ones they bore or long to love, we have an incredible opportunity to reach out with gentle hands in compassion.

A compassion that makes us feel the pain of the distressed and do something about it.

We really don't need special recognition for the long days, sleepless nights and endless lists . . .  We really do need to especially continue to labour with long-suffering, selfless, and enduring love.

It's this self-sacrificing, giving, hope-filled love that will

clothe us with strength and dignity,

fill our days with joy and

our hearts with contentment and

cause us to laugh at the days to come.

This Mother's Day, 

what if we lowered our expectations for what we think we deserve

and delighted to serve the least of these?

"This is what it looks like, I thought. In so many places, we sit in church and talk about compassion, unimaginable love, revival. And then an hour later, we are still sitting there talking about it. But revival is happening. Now. Compassion is working: unimaginable, selfless love is real. It is right here. My five-year-old knows how to be Jesus' hand to others. I can stand and watch the children I have loved and cared for turn around and compassionately love and care for others." ~Katie Davis Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption

I am looking forward to co-leading one of these groups this session beginning on May 26th (registration begins May 19th). If you are in need of encouragement, there is a welcome group for you.  Are You Looking For Encouragement? "(in)courage has benches for you to sit on with a cup of coffee and meet women who are much like you. Friends who understand the heaviness in your heart as well and who also laugh at the things you find funny. These benches are called (in)courage community groups." "The groups are lead by women who have a heart for serving. These women are not trained professionals; they are like you and me. They are women who live their everyday life with joys and broken hearts, who find their strength in the Lord and joy in walking beside other women."

Everything We Think We Know About Marriage and Divorce is Wrong by Shaunti Feldhahn "Another myth that is begging to be debunked is the notion that “Barna found that the rate of divorce is the same in the church.” Actually the Barna Group found no such thing and George Barna himself told me he would love to correct this misunderstanding. Because he wasn’t studying people 'in the church.'" "Those of us who work with marriages may secretly wonder whether there is reason for our ministry, if the news about the divorce rate is better than we think. And the answer is a resounding yes. Because I have seen in the research what every marriage counselor knows intimately: divorce isn’t the greatest threat to marriage. Discouragement is. "What marriages need today is hope. And of all people, we in the Body of Christ should be the most ready to offer hope – not just for our spiritual life but for our marriages. And now, we can."

Half the Sky: When You’re Ready to ACT to Bring All Girls Back: The Esther Initiative And what if pastors and husbands and fathers and brothers gathered around women gathering with women and said yes, yes to His truth and His value and His worth of women — because unless a man looks to Jesus, a man doesn’t know how to treat a woman. When the prevailing thinking is boys will be boys — girls will be treated like garbage. Girls will be mistreated and dismissed and misunderstood and misplaced — and no one will do anything about it. And that is never the heart of God. Unless a man looks to Jesus, a man doesn’t know how to treat a woman. How would it change the world if men and women around the world knew that God chose to make His entry point into the world through the holy space of a woman, to enfold Himself inside of a woman, to drink of a woman, be held and nourished and cared for by a woman — that’s the jolting truth of how God loves His daughters with His honour. In honour of all the mothers this weekend, in honor of all the stolen girls in Nigeria, the slave girls of Haiti, the brothel girls of India, the trafficked girls in our own countries, in honour of your daughters and your sisters and your mothers and your Jesus who calls all the daughters His — will you stand with as part of the Esther Generation who is making the Esther Initiative happen? Every $5 matters & makes a difference and God will MULTIPLY our little loaves and fishes.

{Email subscribers can listen to "Do Something" by Matthew West by clicking here } I woke up this morning Saw a world full of trouble now Thought, how’d we ever get so far down How’s it ever gonna turn around So I turned my eyes to Heaven I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?” Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of People living in poverty Children sold into slavery The thought disgusted me So, I shook my fist at Heaven Said, “God, why don’t You do something?” He said, “I did, I created you”

{Words for Wisdom for the Weekend: These are words that I have been challenged or encouraged by that I have read throughout my week that I kept pondering; words that I couldn't get off my mind and heart throughout my week. 

For other Words of Wisdom for the Weekend posts see here.}

Five Minute Friday: Joy

You know when you blinked and your baby turned four in February. Her gentle curls have grown out and cascade like sheer elegance all the way down her back. I still call her my baby, but she always asserts that she is a big girl. She is a delight. She has taught me how to laugh at the days to come. Just as her big brother and sister have tutored me as I've grown up into motherhood.

I should be round with swollen belly according to my past track record. Instead I just wear the scars and marks from the three times I have been swollen. I doubt I will ever feel those kicks inside and count down the months, weeks and days waiting for the joy of cradling the life I had already loved close to my heart. It leaves me with an empty forlorn feeling.

Until I look up and see the three I have been blessed with. Three precious children that need a Mama still. Three that fill my days, my hands, my heart. The ones I teach and are teaching me about life and love and really living.

There is no greater joy than to watch my children walk in truth.

My son, he was in bed for two hours when, he called me to his room. He had a question. Clenching my jaw, I told him he'd have to ask me in the morning. He persisted. I loosened up and listened to the heart cry in his voice and changed my mind. I stood in his doorway. He spoke in hushed tones. He had to know if there were people starving in the world right then. I whispered back, yes.

"Then, Mom," he searches, "I have to do something. When I'm bigger I have to help them. I want to help them. They shouldn't be starving." He continues with his thoughts of love and justice and my heart cries.

There is no greater joy then to watch my children grow up to care, to walk in truth and to love mercy.

I opened up my hands again and receive the joy, cradled it close to my heart.

***

Linking with Five Minute Friday at Lisa-Jo's place. This week the prompt is: Joy

Officially, the rules are:

1. Write for 5 minutes
2. Link up at Lisa-Jo's  and invite others to join in.

3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community...

How Poverty, Potatoes, and Pure Joy Leaves Me Pondering

My girl is on my lap and my husband is at my side and our pastor is telling the congregation all about his trip to Kenya and Burundi.

He shares the joy he experienced as he preached the gospel and hearts responded to the call of God, the exciting times of churches being planted and believers being baptized by the dozens in Africa and he speaks of the joy they have even though they have absolutely nothing, but they have the Lord and that is more than enough and he challenges us by saying that their faith is bigger than ours and they know that God will provide!

He shares pictures of churches and says he doesn't remember the name of the church but he remembers the people.

He shares some of their stories. One man who provides for his family of four on only $40.00 a month. A woman who wondered why he has such a small family with only four children and he laughs when he relates the rest of the story of when he asked her how many children she has and she told him fourteen!

Then it's the pictures of the slums and my heart breaks. He shows a picture* of sweet children and they are smiling and then he tells the children in the congregation to remember to pray for these children because they don't have a dad or mom.

Lastly, the orphaned girls who have been rescued from the slum. And they are in need of a building and some land to build one on. These girls, they were naked and had no food and were being used in ways no woman should ever be used. He tells us they range in age from 13-25 and that they all have at least one child. My heart says, 'No. No way. Please no. My own daughter will turn 13 in a few short months.'

I'm not naive. I've heard this before. But, my heart breaks afresh and I choke back the tears and I want to do something for these children and these daughters.

And he shares a video of one of these girls.  In broken English she talks about how she has lived in the slum and had to find her food in the dump and she would sleep outside in a sack and the mosquitoes would bite, but she knows God will help her and she looks straight into the camera and says God will help you too.

The last slide on the Powerpoint leaves us with these words:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"

We sit here in Canada and we can give resources, but it doesn't seem enough.

My heart says we have to do more. I'm just not sure exactly what that is. But, I tell God, 'Whatever you want me to do, show me.'

Hours later, we are about to start a simple meal of Shepherd's Pie for supper. We pull out the bag of potatoes from the cupboard and reach in and find a couple of small, wizened up, rotting potatoes. We either need to come up with a different plan for supper or go get some more potatoes.

I remember the field. We happen to live in potatoe country and right near our home is a potato farmer's field that was just harvested. The locals glean in the field. My husband and kids and a neighbour kid or two make the short trek across the road ready to find dinner.

I stay at home to brown the beef but never get to it and just as I head back to the kitchen to heat up the frying pan I hear three calls of: "Mom! Look what I found!" My kids pour in with their buckets full and bags breaking and tucked in their arms and they surely have a more than a sack of potatoes.

The littlest one rushes in first; straight in the front door with her sun hat on, her purple sandals, and the dress she wore to church all excited about the little treasures she dug up. She spills them all out right there on the front hall mat and barely leaves room for her sister to squeeze in the door with her big red bucket. Their brother comes in the back door with I'm sure as much sand in between his toes as in the field he just came back from with his Dad. All the bags they took are full. Everyone agreed they better take the wagon next time!

My husband tells me about how adorable it was to watch our little "Ruth gleaning in the field". And my 12 year old daughter admits to me she didn't like the dirt in her Birks so she went barefoot instead. My son, of coarse, pulls potatoes out of his pockets.

We throw supper together and we sit at the table and amidst the conversation and complaining, the laughter and loudness, I wonder about it all.

And I don't know how to make sense of it. How we have so much here in this country. We are not in want of good food. We don't glean in dumps like the people in the slums in Kenya. Our children still have their parents and our daughter is not sleeping outside in a sack on stinkin' sludge and being used in ways I never even want to imagine for any daughter.

The pastor, he says they have joy. Yes, that man who sells shoes in the slum and supports his family on $40.00 a month laughs with joyful confidence that God will provide for them. The woman holding her sleeping child next to her bosom tells us that God will help us.





My heart aches, what are we to do?

How can we live here in abundance with anxiety and there they live in poverty with pure joy.

This isn't just about a pot of potatoes.

This is about people living in poverty and souls starving for God.

And I wonder which country is really the poorer of the two.





*used with permission

Children with Compassion: Growing in Grace ~ Giving it Back

We've been thinking about the poverty in Guatemala for a month and here I am at a barbecue out in a meadow. All afternoon the sun dances with the leaves in the trees towering around us.

I'm sitting on a campfire chair eating watermelon and spitting out seeds. I toss the rind aside when I feel that I've had enough. Someone comes around and gathers up the garbage while I am talking with a woman who spent 4 years in the Sudan with her husband and six boys as missionaries. She is still eating her piece of watermelon; practically gnawing on it. There is not a hint of pink left.

Someone else points out the rind with pink still on it; conspicuously piled on top of the plate heading for the garbage. Now, all the ladies turn their heads in my direction. Scolding me with their mere glances. Yes, I admit, it was my piece.

I confess that I have never stared at poverty in the face and I take this abundance of food for granted. I shake my own head and hang it down. This woman who has spent years in the Sudan tells me of how hungry they are there. The children will pick up a mango pit from the ground that has already been chewed to see if they can suck anymore from it. She calls herself 'juicy' now that she is back in Canada and there is this overflow of food.

Days later, I am scraping our plates after dinner. I'm throwing away heads of asparagus just because of the sand that didn't come out when I washed it and it was gritty between our teeth. My hand stops scraping and I'm disgusted with myself and wonder how I can just toss it away so flippantly when there are children starving.

But, I have never seen it. My heart is so cold to the reality of how children suffer with stomachs protruding because of malnutrition. My heart does ache for them, but what will it take for me to get to the point of feeling like I've been hit in the gut with compassion.

I don't know why we have so much here that we fill up our garbage cans because we feel full and there they pick scraps out of the garbage to fill their bellies that feel hunger gnawing.

But, I do know, whether we have seen it or not we can't keep living like it doesn't exist.

Poverty does exist. There are mothers who desperately want to give their children healthy food to eat, a warm, safe place to sleep, and clean water to drink.

And there are mothers working to end poverty. Children, too, who want to make a difference in other people's lives.

***

Weeks earlier, I read this post by Kristen and watched the video she linked with my children hovering over my shoulder. We were moved and inspired and we started to dream together.

We know we can't change the world, but we can do a little to make a difference. We started to plan a benefit concert for home educated children to present their various gifts and abilities to raise money to rebuild a home for a family in Guatemala.

***

For six weeks we plan. We ask another family to come along side us with the planning, we hand out invitations to friends, family, and neighbours to come to this "Children with Compassion: Growing in Grace ~ Giving it Back" concert, they practice, and pray.

The children pray with child-like faith that enough will be raised for Compassion Canada to rebuild at least one home for one family suffering in poverty in Guatemala.

The day before the concert I feed my children porridge for supper and for 22 hours I don't eat and my stomach knows a wee little bit of what it is like to go without food. I think of those mothers who often go without so their babies will have something to eat; mothers who are living in unsanitary conditions and can't do anything about it. When I feel the pangs of hunger, I pray that God will hear our prayers to help.

And God pours out His blessing and He answers the children's prayers beyond what they even asked or imagined!

Because, yes, that is what He is like. That is how He works; how He answers prayer. People are moved with compassion and give more than enough for one home to be rebuilt, but also a quarter of the way to have another home rebuilt, too!

We have been given so much and how can we not dig deep and give back out of the abundance and the riches of His grace.

When children want to help other children in need we will stand back and see God work and be amazed at His grace.

And the next time I eat watermelon I will be sure I don't leave a wink of pink on the rind and pray that God will continue to make my heart bleed for the least of these.

***

{Shown here is a video we showed at the concert to share what life is like for some people living in poverty in Guatemala. (For email subscribers, click here to view video.)
Compassion Canada is helping families in Guatemala that have lost homes due to hurricanes and major storms in recent years. They are reaching out to help children in the name of Jesus. For further information or to sponsor a child you can go here if you live in Canada or here if you live elsewhere.}