A way of life????

I compare this picture to the one Kat posted in the very beginning.










This picture was taken inside the qualis we (me, my husband, our children, and some team members) were in. It was temporarily parked at a stop light. This girl, maybe 8, the same age of my daughter who was also in the car, came to our window. She was begging for money. We've seen lots of beggars for its a way of life in India but this was much worse. If you notice below in the zoomed in picture, her left hand has blood all over it.



















Again, at the stop light, this girl comes up to our window, and puts her hand right in our faces. My girls (ages 8 and 7) get a glimpse, then my husband quickly diverts their attention. With the lights que, our driver drives off, and a team member quickly takes a picture as we drive away from this precious girl.

Did you know its not uncommon for a child to be beaten or staged to make them objects of greater pity in order to recieve more money? This girls innocence has been robbed by such a crooked system. Whether the blood was fake or not isn't the issue, it was clearly intentional for this girl to appear hurt.

I just felt compelled to share this picture with all of you. I just feel we must make this known. People must know these things really are reality in far away nations. In agony, I think of this girl constantly-and I pray for her.
Will you join me today and pray for this girl too? And pray for justice for the hurting children in this nation.

The 40 Day Fast

There have been a few amazing bloggers posting about their fast and their cause. Here are two that have been impactful to me.
Andrew posted about the Dalit people. Read more here. The Dalit people group are very dear to my heart.
Shawn posted about what giving "a cup of cold water" looks like on his day. Read more here.
Click here to read about todays blogger and their cause.

Live in Today.

Here's what we need to keep in mind.

We no longer have yesterday,
nor do we yet have tomorrow.
We only have today.

This is the day the Lord has made.
We must choose to live in it.

Need some new shoes??

Today's blogger for the 40 Day Fast is .....

Tim Harms. He wrote a pretty amazing post on his blog. The organization he chose to highlight today was TOMS Shoes. For every pair of shoes purchased, Blake (the owner) will personally donate a pair to a child in need. It's that simple. Buy one pair, another gets donated.

Go check it out. TOMS Shoes

Maybe
your
in
need
of a
new
pair
of
shoes?

Someone asked me today...

What does it mean to you when God says that His strength is made perfect through our weaknesses?

It was a good question. I'd like to share my answer with you.
This comes from one of my favorite passages written by Paul.

2 Corinthians 12 (Paul's Vision and His Thorn)

My answer was this.

I have strengths and weaknesses. I always think God wants to use just my strengths, but He also wants to use my weaknesses. "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. " 1 COR 1:27 God loves to use weak people. There are places all over the Bible were God used imperfect weak people to accomplish extraordinary things.

When I think of weakness, I think thats a place God couldnt use. But God is never limited by our limitations!

Example:
I tend to be a grouch! I have to constantly admit it, and out of that weakness ask God for His strength. He continually helps me have a great attitude! My favorite verse that I meditate on daily is "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22 Dont you know I can not do it without His help and strength!

I think we can learn from Paul with his "thorn" or weaknesses.
He was content with his weakness.
He chose to be vulnerable with his weakness.
And he glorified God in his weakness.

What are some of your weaknesses?