Risk

"Every child deserves someone to have someone to take a risk on them." My friend, Erin, shared that at our church's adoption meeting last Sunday, and immediate I had to stifle ugly crying. I was holding her foster-to-adopt son in my arms, thinking about our own 2 kiddos and their unknown stories, and just lost it.

Erin's right. EVERY CHILD deserves someone - especially Christians - to have someone risk something for them. No child deserves to be orphaned. No child deserves to be abandoned. No child deserves to live in abuse or malnutrition or poverty. But someone has to take a risk on their little lives in order for those wrongs to be righted and their stories changed.

Erin went on to passionately call us toward action, "God doesn't call us to protect our hearts. He calls us to risk and take a chance on someone who might not have anyone else to risk on their behalf." Truth. Someone has surely taken a chance on you - relationally, vocationally, financially. And after we take a risk, who knows what God might do with their life!??! When I think about our 2 Ethiopian kiddos, their little lives are already implicitly changing our lives...and we haven't even met them. And they deserve for us to take a chance on them. For better or worse.

Later last week, I saw this video about Apple founder, Steve Jobs. If you don't watch the whole thing, just watch the first few minutes.


Take a risk today.

A Lament

One of the deals I've made with God about my pain [like that actually works anyway!] is that I will use it for good. I will learn from it. And I will share what I'm learning with others so that it might be redeemed. The following passage from Lamentations also reminds me not to forget and where I need to place my hope...

Lamentations 3:20-26, 32-33, 40, 55- 57

²⁰ I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
²¹ Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:

²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
²³ Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
²⁶ So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
³² Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.
⁴⁰ ... let us test and examine our ways.
Let us turn back to the Lord.
⁵⁵ ... I called on your name, Lord,
⁵⁶ You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading!
Hear my cry for help!”
⁵⁷ Yes, you came when I called;
you told me, “Do not fear.”

**Thanks Kim for sharing!

Divine Appointment

This past weekend I taught at Newsong's college retreat. I shared with the women only, and then with the guys only. In the women's session I taught on Isaiah 40:18-31 and how in order to FLY to the highest heights, we must go through the painful season of waiting. I went more deeply into the part of the passage where Isaiah talks about stumbling and falling...what keeps us from FLYING?
As a portion of teaching from this text, I briefly went into my own season of stumbling and waiting through infertility and adoption. I really didn't want to share much because I was talking to a room full of unmarried, college girls. What could my story of infertility mean to them?

Later that night we had a time of prayer for healing and confession. A beautiful 20 year old woman walked toward me with tears streaming down her face. She thanked me for sharing and asked what my infertility diagnosis was. "PCOS", I told her. Immediately, her streams of tears turned into rivers. This summer, she was diagnosed with the same condition and she was confused and tired and overwhelmed and exceedingly sad. My heart broke with hers and we cried together. As she shared more with me over the next few minutes, I sensed God say, "I brought you to this retreat just for this girl. You never know when your story will meet another's story. Don't be afraid to share it." I was the only person in the room who she could relate to in this deepest place. It was a divine appointment.

In that moment with the worship team singing behind us and me holding this young woman in my arms, I was once again grateful for PCOS. I was grateful that a side comment in my message traveled into the ears of girl who's felt so alone in her pain. I was grateful that God took charge of my words and gave them to her for comfort and connection. I was grateful that my God never wastes our pain or isolates our stories. He's the God of redemption, connection, and healing. Grateful...