Every year on Clean Water Sunday, I leave with a heart re-broken for the beautiful people in Nicaragua who we were supposed to leave with clean water; except the unyielding ground would not allow for us to do so. Four years later, I still don’t have the words to describe how my heart broke that day. I still don’t have the words to describe how, each and every Clean Water Sunday, I️ fight back tears as my heart breaks all the more while I remember, while my heart persists to forever connect with the hearts of people I love, in a place that I love, who are still drinking disease-ridden water because they have no other choice. What I don’t need - what I really, really don’t need - is for anyone to tell me that; nevertheless, God is still good. I don’t need to hear that He “will make a way where there is no way” or that He “will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Is. 43:19). I don’t need to hear it because, I know. I know the promises. I believe and proclaim them with everything I am and I feel them in the very depth of my soul. In the depths of my soul that I didn’t even know existed until God opened it by breaking my heart for what breaks His that day under the vast, beautiful Nicaraguan sky. That day when I finally understood the depth of Jesus’ radical, all-consuming, endless, boundless love for every single living organism on this overwhelmingly, awe-inspiring earth of His. So, nevertheless this broken little heart of mine remains filled with unrelenting hope. Hope not only because of Jesus, but because I️ know that the hearts of all of us, His people that He created, are good, are compassionate, are willing. During this season of giving, when you begin to feel a bit consumerist in the midst of your shopping. I’m asking you to stop for a second and remember that the Christmas season is a celebration of joy and hope. We are filled with joy and hope because of the greatest gift of all, Christ, that was given to us. Consequently, we give gifts to others to bring them joy and hope and to make sure they know and remember and feel the love that we have for them. I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, the cry of my heart might move yours to action birthed out of compassion, as opposed to guilt. That maybe this Christmas season, you adopt a globally-minded perspective and put part of your Christmas budget toward bringing joy, hope, and love to children around the world whose joy and hope are laced with the hardship of lack of access to a basic human need. I️ have no doubt that God will meet their needs according to His plan for good for them, but as citizens of the world, we have a responsibility to reach out and let people know that someone cares. Certainly we can all certainly do a little more. For more information and/or to donate visit: https://liquidchurch.com/serve/clean-water/ Or https://water.cc And/or set your Amazon Smile to Living Water International and put that consumerism to good use! :)
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Author4th grade teacher. Writer. Justice-seeker. Encourager. CrossFitter. John 11:40. Archives
July 2017
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