I recently found out about a new organization called Missions in Action which has created an interactive video series highlighting areas of need around the world, the ministries who are working there and how you can join in to help. Their first episode features Compassion International’s work in the Philippines, where they are seeking to bring hope and aid to those suffering the effects of the annual flooding in Northern Manila.

It’s moving and heart-wrenching to watch these clips of the living conditions of these families, yet joyful to see the hope that Compassion does give them for their children. I watched the video with my 3 1/2 year old son Justice and it was a great opportunity to talk to him about the needs of kids around the world who don’t have all of the comforts that we do.

I encourage you to watch this video and the others as they air and to consider how you can help children in poverty this holiday season. Whether it’s sponsoring a child or giving a Christmas gift or helping out poor families in your own city, this is an area that is close to the heart of Jesus and which is therefore one that I want to hold dear as well.

As you may understand, this pregnancy brings with it additional emotions of fear and anxiety after my recent miscarriage, especially with some of the aches and pains and upset stomach of the last couple weeks, but I am forced to continuously surrender this baby to the Lord and trust its life in His loving care. Pregnancy is something that definitely challenges that spirit of control that loves to rear its ugly head and reminds me that I have virtually no control over how this baby grows and develops within me and that the only way to have peace is to lean upon my Beloved and trust His perfect leadership in our lives.

Lately, I have been praying mostly for the Lord to begin speaking to us about the destiny and identity of this little one and what dreams are in His heart for this life. It is such an amazing joy and privilege and honor to be entrusted with the responsibility of leading and guiding and raising these eternal souls in their journey and pointing them towards the One who gave them life and the One who gave His life for them. Also, as I continuously discover the personalities and identities of my two children now, I am so excited to meet this addition to our family and see who they will be and how their unique personality will be added to our existing mix!

First of all, I wanted to share of the joy that we experienced for a short time as we celebrated the new life that was in my womb. Since I was late in getting my cycle, we decided to pack up the kids in the van and drive to Shoppers to pick up a pregnancy test and then I went in to our local Starbucks and peed on it in their bathroom – lol. I then tucked it back in it’s wrapper and brought it back to the van with me and we drove around for a bit, just talking about it before we finally checked the result. We were very excited and shared the happy news with the kids and prayed over our baby. We let the kids play with the pregnancy test, after we made sure to secure the cap with tape.  I still have the pregnancy test and it makes me smile every time I look at it, first of all because it reminds me that Ezana really did exist and she was alive, however briefly, and secondly, because the cap is full of teeth marks from Rayah chewing on it! That night as I put Justice to bed, I asked if he wanted to pray for the baby and he said yes and prayed, “God bless the baby with the HOLY SPIRIT in the holy city!”  Little did I know that our baby would indeed soon be in the holy city in the very presence of God.

When I started to bleed, just a week later, I think I knew right away that I was miscarrying. It was a horrible feeling every time I went to bathroom, as it felt like my body was expelling my baby against my choice. It felt so wrong to consider that I was potentially flushing my baby down the toilet, its life being discarded like waste. In some ways, I wondered if these emotions were similar to what some mothers have felt in the wake of an abortion? One moment, life – the next moment, death. There was deep sorrow, anger, and even shame.

Over the next few days and weeks, I struggled a lot with denial. I didn’t want to believe that it was true. I didn’t want to believe she was gone. I had heard stories of women who had what appeared to be their period during their pregnancy and that their child still lived. In one of these stories, the child was born with many medical issues and special needs, yet I still clung desperately to the faint hope that maybe she was still alive in my womb. I didn’t want to let her go.

Finally, one night as Joe and I lay in bed, he strongly encouraged me that it was time to let Ezana go. I really fought against this idea and didn’t want to do it. I felt that if I let her go, that I was somehow abandoning her or letting go of my love for her. To me, it felt as though I was being asked to give up my daughter for adoption, but again, it was against my choice and I didn’t want to give her up. I knew that the One adopting her only happened to be the best Father in all the universe, and yet there was this motherly instinct that cried out, “NOOOOO! I’M her mother and I’m the one who is the best qualified to love and care for her. She needs a mommy!” I knew in my mind that my Heavenly Father, the very One who created Ezana and lovingly formed her with His very own hands was more than capable of loving her and caring for her and that she was certainly not experiencing any lack in His presence, yet it was still difficult to give her up to be adopted by Him.

As I lay there, every time I imagined saying, “Good-bye” to Ezana, I would just weep because I would see her walking away from me towards the Father (I was imagining her as an approximately 5 year old girl) and I didn’t want her to leave me and I didn’t want to have to turn around and walk away from her either. I felt like I was turning my back on her and rejecting her somehow, when all I really wanted to do was hold her close and never let go. Then Joe encouraged me to think of it as though I was simply saying “Good-bye” like I was going to work – it wasn’t good-bye for forever – just a moment. And in reality, this life will be just a moment, and in a flash I will be reunited with her in heaven. So, out loud, through tears I said, “Good-bye, Ezana. I have to go do some work here on this earth and fulfill the things the Lord has asked me to do, but I’ll be with you again soon and your Father God is going to take really good care of you! I love you so much sweetie and I can’t wait to see you!”

While extremely difficult, going through that and finally letting her go into the Father’s arms was critical to my healing and being able to move forward. As I write this, the pain is still there, but so is the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and even the knowledge that my sister-in-law Angie is with Ezana now too and that she has an Auntie with her, as well as some of Angie’s children who were miscarried. And they are all enjoying and experiencing the love and joy of the Father in ways I can only dream of.

September 30th – purchased the iPhone 4 to help me stay on top of things at work and at home!  I’ve never owned an Apple product and haven’t had a cell phone for several years, so this has been a fun experience for me!  Joe teases me that I touch it more than I touch him, which is sadly probably true – lol – but I am already very pleased with how it has helped me be more organized and productive.  Yay! 

October 1st – my first official day back at work!  Thankfully it was a very low-key day of getting myself organized and refamiliarized with things in the office.  Overall it was a good & successful day.

October 3rd – at Sanctuary House of Prayer, I had the privilege of sharing about God’s heart for the orphan and His invitation to us to partner with Him in caring for and defending the orphan.  I still have only a tiny amount of revelation on this topic, but the Lord is impacting my heart more and more for the fatherless.  At the same time, I got the opportunity to highlight an organization that I love – Compassion Canada – and share about how we can care for the orphan and the child living in poverty through child sponsorship.  From the small group at our house of prayer, I was super pumped that 3 children got sponsored that day!!  If you want, you can listen to my message or read my notes – then consider how you can respond to His invitation to us to care for the orphan, whether through sponsoring a child, adoption, foster care, building an orphanage, becoming an advocate for orphans, giving financially to others who are adopting, etc!  And if you are considering sponsoring a Compassion child, there are still 2 children that I have packets for, so feel free to give me a shout if you’d like to sponsor Stayer from Indonesia or Elvis from Bolivia!

October 5th-8th – I survived my first full week back at work, working 4 hours a day at home, while also being a mom!  There were definitely challenges, including a teething daughter, a cold making its rounds in our household, and mommy getting an unwelcome visit from Aunt Flo. But we made it without too many tears and no complete mental or emotional breakdowns on my part, so that’s awesome!  Even the actual work of writing code all came back to me (for the most part) and my mom surprised me by dropping in to help with the kids for a couple hours one day, which was so great!

October 10th – my sister and her husband dedicated their adorable twins to God at their church, so Joe and I and our kids joined them to support and pray for them as they committed themselves as parents to raise their children to love Jesus – woohoo!  This same Sunday, our house of prayer moved to a new location (again), after spending 4 weeks in another church.  It looks like we will be at this current location for a while now, so it feels good to be settling in and seeing how our times of worship and prayer will look like here.  The building is a great fit for us and we are super thankful for the Lord’s provision for us in the season of transition! 

October 11th – We hosted a Thanksgiving meal at our house with my parents, my brother & his wife,  and my sister & her husband with their twins.  It was my first time baking a turkey and I was totally stressed out about it!  I had been having nightmares all week and just wanted it to turn out okay.  I had had it defrosting in my fridge for 3 days, but when I pulled it out, parts of it were still very frozen – ahhh!!  So I thawed it out a bit more in some cold water in the sink and then just prayed like crazy over it – ha!  After looking at several sites online with their tips and recipes, I tried a mixture of things and it ended up turning out fantastic!  As my sweet sister-in-law said, “You nailed it!”   Rayah also got to enjoy an early birthday cake celebration, which she enjoyed to the max!

Hello my few and faithful readers!

I may have a small following here, and today I wish I had the ability to influence thousands, but I believe that even the handful of you who read this blog can make a HUGE impact TODAY!

A blog I read, Storing Up Treasures, is running an incredible fundraiser to bring in $10,000 in 20 days to help 26 families in their adoptions!  They are asking that you give just a measley $5 (but I dare you to give more!) to contribute to financing these families as they seek to bring their babies home. 

Today, YOU can make a very real difference in the lives of 26 orphans!  I encourage you to go over there and GIVE with a generous heart!

Several weeks have passed since Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake, yet this nation is still in desperate need of aid.  In addition to our prayers here is another opportunity for you to help Haiti with an upcoming ticketed concert event taking place at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN, on February 27th, 2010 to benefit Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund. The event will also be streamed live at HelpHaitiLive.com for those who cannot attend the concert in person.

100% of on-line donations through HelpHaitiLive.com will go to Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund as well as 100% of net proceeds from ticket sales!  “Help Haiti Live” is a production of Shaun Groves and  Synergy Production Group for Compassion International.  Some of the artists who will be performing include:

• Big Kenny
• Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
• Jars of Clay
• Mat Kearney
• Brandon Heath
• Dave Barnes
• Matt Wertz

Compassion has been assisting children and families in Haiti for over 40 years and have been distributing relief to the Haitians after this disaster with water, food, cooking items, hygiene kits, medical supplies, temporary shelter, blankets and more!  Most importantly though, they have been doing it unashamedly in the name of Jesus Christ, working through local churches and ministries to show the love of God to those in need.  I would encourage you to consider how you can give and partner with Compassion in this benefit concert in order to support their relief efforts in Haiti for months to come!

Also, on a sidenote, I’d like to bring attention to a personal friend of mine, Kristi, who is going down to Haiti to provide medical care to those suffering in Haiti – please check out her blog and consider supporting her financially in this outreach – thanks!

First of all, we can PRAY.  Some things to pray for…

1. Provision of food, water, shelter and aid to get to the victims.
2. Anointing and power upon the local churches that they could minister effectively to those in need.
3. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit for healing (physical & emotional), resurrection, and salvations.
4. Provision for Christian crisis relief and aid organizations to be able to get into Haiti and help these victims in the name of Jesus.
5. Comfort, strength, and hope for those who have lost loved ones.
6. Revival – that many would realize their deep need for a Savior and turn from their sin and turn to God.
7. For adoptions of Haitian orphans currently in process to be allowed to go through quickly – see article here.  People in Canada and the United States are speaking up on behalf of these orphans and fighting to make it possible for them to be brought home to their adoptive families.

Secondly, we can GIVE.  A warning before you donate, though, is that there are already people seeking to take advantage of this disaster through Haiti charity scams.  Check out this article for ways to avoid being scammed and how you can ensure you give to trustworthy charities.  Now here are just a few Christian organizations that have come to my attention that I think would be worthy of receiving financial aid right now who are seeking to respond to this crisis in Haiti.  I’m sure there are many more – perhaps you can leave them in the comments if you know of some – but here are ones I would recommend…

Compassion International - Because Compassion International ministers through local churches to meet the needs of that church’s neighbors, and because these church partners are respected aid workers in their communities, Compassion is uniquely positioned to assess and meet the needs of it’s sponsored children quickly. This is an advantage of their church-based model in practice for more than 50 years.  Also, Compassion has been given the highest approval rating by both www.CharityNavigator.com and The American Institute of Philanthropy.  They are a trusted charity who is committed to giving all funds raised in response to the Haiti earthquake  immediately to provide for Compassion-assisted children and families affected by this crisis. Any funds raised in excess will be stewarded by Compassion for additional and future disaster relief efforts. You can provide immediate relief to the Haiti Earthquake victims today.
• $35 helps provide a relief pack filled with enough food and water to sustain a family for one week.
• $70 gift helps care for their needs for two weeks.
• $105 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain two families for two weeks.
• $210 gift helps care for two families’ needs.
• $525 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain 10 families for two weeks.
• $1,050 gift helps care for 10 families’ needs.
• $1,500 helps rebuild a home.
• $2,100 helps supply 20 families with the basics for three weeks.

Crisis Response International – CRI is a non-profit organization that resources, trains and mobilizes volunteers, churches and other organizations to respond to disasters and other  compassion initiatives in the UnitedStates and world-wide.  Their vision is to train an army of end-time, prophetic, mercy missionaries, mobilized in the spirit of night and day prayer, to release great demonstrations of power, reach the harvest in crisis and rebuild cities on the Kingdom of God.  Presently CRI is collaborating efforts with Haitian national churches to bring relief and mobilize volunteers to the area. This is a tremendous opportunity to bring the Love and hope of Jesus Christ into this hurting area. Reports on CNN stated that people were screaming in the streets “Jesus is coming back and they were calling on God for help.”  Check out their site to see how you can help.

God’s Littlest Angels - GLA is an independent, non-denominational ministry founded to care for premature, malnourished, and abandoned children in Haiti. GLA is a faith mission relying on God to provide funding and other needs through churches and donors throughout North America and Europe.  Doctors and clinics refer babies that are in need of intensive nursing care and nutritional support to GLA. The ministry has developed from a Child Survival Center that cares only for premature, malnourished and abandoned infants under 2 years old into an orphanage that facilitates adoptions for children of all ages. Today, the orphanage is a fully functioning nursery with incubators, warming beds, and the capability to provide oxygen, intravenous fluids, and monitoring support for critically ill infants.  While at the same time, providing full-time child care for all of the children.  As I’m sure you realize, they are expecting many more orphans to be coming to them as a result of this disaster and you can help them by donating on their website – just click on the “Donate” button at the top of the right column or donate on their blog by using Earthquake Relief Fund widget in the right column.

Samaritan’s Purse – Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Samaritan’s Purse is responding to the earthquake that devastated Haiti by providing critically needed assistance, including water, temporary shelter, blankets, hygiene kits, medical aid, and other essentials.  You can donate to their relief efforts here.

World Vision - World Vision is a Christian humanitarian charity organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. The millions of people they serve include earthquake and hurricane survivors, abandoned and exploited children, survivors of famine and civil war, refugees, and children and families in communities devastated by AIDS in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Their extensive global infrastructure enables them to respond where the need is greatest, anywhere in the world. World Vision is on the ground rushing emergency supplies to survivors of the Haiti catastrophe. Your gift now will help distribute life-saving relief supplies – including food, clean water, blankets, and tents — to children and families devastated by the earthquake and aftershocks in Haiti.  World Vision has worked in Haiti for 30 years and has some 370 staff in country. Send your gift to help them today.

I remember when I went to Mexico on my first missions trip and how my heart was wrecked by the sweet children I met in one poverty-stricken neighborhood whose name literally meant “Little Hell”.  I still remember this one beautiful little girl whose name was Aranza, who I held in my arms for as much time as she would let me & how I sang over her about how God loves her, even though she couldn’t understand a word I said.  My prayer is that these bloggers and everyone who hears about their trip in the Dominican Republic will also get wrecked with a heart of true compassion and love for the needy children of the earth.  My prayer is that many children will get sponsored as a result of this outreach and that many lives will be changed for the better! 

If you’re interested in reading the stories from these bloggers, check out Compassion’s “Our Trips” page.  Also, if you’d like to sponsor a child, please visit Compassion’s “Sponsor a Child” page.

The very next time Compassion came to our church, I went to their table and looked at all the beautiful faces they had displayed and there was one little girl who immediately grabbed my heart.  In that moment, I became the sponsor to Ana Lucia, an adorable 6 year old who lives in Guatemala.  Her family & friends call her Lucy and she has 7 siblings!  She’s also an auntie and has two nieces!  Almost immediately I received my first letter from Ana Lucia with a colorful drawing and she expressed how happy she was to have me as her sponsor.  Since then I have received many more letters and drawings as she would tell me about how much she loved the student center and learning about Jesus, as well as everything she was learning in school.  She would ask me how she could pray for me and would tell us how we could pray for her and her family.  In 2005, her town was impacted by hurricane Stan, which caused landslides and affected their food supplies.  Thankfully she was okay and I was glad to know that our sponsorship was helping to provide for her and her family’s needs after the disaster.  In 2007, we discovered that her mother had even become involved as a youth leader in their church, which was really special to us to know that even her family members were being impacted by the church’s ministry to them.  She is now 10 years old and entering into 5th grade and her letters are filled with her love for Jesus.

Compassion International ministers to over a million children in 25 of the world’s poorest countries through its Child Development Sponsorship Program. With the support of sponsors, Compassion is reaching through the hands of local churches to release children from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty.  Compassion International invented child sponsorship and it has proven to be a successful child development strategy. This ministry hinges upon the relationship between the sponsor and child. That relationship goes both ways. Sponsors correspond with their sponsored children and support Compassion’s ministry to children for $32 (USD)/ $35 (CDN) every month. Sponsors also receive letters from their sponsored children, watching them grow toward physical and spiritual maturity. Sponsorship is a relationship that transforms both sponsors and children.

If you are reading this and you’ve been thinking about sponsoring a child, I encourage you to take that leap of faith and consider sponsoring one of these children, who have been waiting over 6 months for a sponsor.  Every child Compassion ministers to needs a sponsor and at the moment there are thousands who do not have one. These children need words of encouragement and Compassion needs the cost of their care sponsored so that the ministry can continue to expand.  My husband and I don’t even think twice about the money that comes out of our bank account every month – it is worth every penny to see how the lives of 3 amazing children are being changed!  If it means we go without cable television or some of the other luxuries available to us, that is a very small price to pay for the rewards of being a sponsor.

If you already sponsor a child with Compassion, then perhaps you’d like to consider blogging about your own experience and become an advocate for needy children in your own sphere of influence on the internet.  If you don’t have a blog, share your story in the comments here & maybe give a word of encouragement to those who are thinking of sponsoring a child.

If you’ve been reading my blog over the last year, you’ll recall how God led us to name our firstborn son, Justice, and the special relationship his name has to the issue of the unborn and praying for the ending of abortion.  However, we know that justice is a very vast topic that applies to all who are hurting, broken, needy, afflicted, and lost.  When I was pregnant, I decided to do a Biblical study on justice and I spoke about it at our house of prayer.  As a result, I learned a lot about this issue that is very close to the heart of God.

“The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5)

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” (Psalm 89:14)

“‘…but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:24)

In it’s most basic form, justice is when wrongs things are made right, and I’m sure we can all think of many things in this world that are not as they should be.  But the one aspect I want to talk about today is specifically God’s desire to bring justice to the poor and oppressed of the earth – especially children.

“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.” (Psalm 82:3 )

“I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.” (Psalm 140:12)

“…learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)

What you may NOT know about our story is that when Justice was only 13 weeks old in the womb, we had planned a trip to the Dominican Republic and were going to visit one of our three Compassion sponsored children, a beautiful 8 year-old girl named Yasmel.  Only, one day before we were supposed to leave, I had complications with the pregnancy that had us worried for Justice’s life and which compelled us to cancel our trip.  Thankfully, as you realize, Justice was safe and I don’t regret taking the precaution to stay home, but my heart has always remained a little sad that we missed the opportunity to meet Yasmel. 

Then, a couple days ago I discovered that Compassion is giving bloggers the chance to be chosen to go on a trip to the Dominican Republic as a way to raise awareness for the needy children of the world that Compassion ministers to.  At first my heart leapt at the thought of possibly going, but I realized that it wouldn’t be possible quite yet, since Justice is still too young – perhaps one day when he is older we’ll get to go.  However, I felt a little silly that I had never thought to use my blog before as a means to be an advocate for these precious children.  What better way to use whatever small influence I may have in the world wide web than to help bring the needs of these oppressed, weak, and often helpless little ones to the attention of someone who might find it in their heart to sponsor them?

Not once in the last 5 years, have Joe or I ever regretted the money we give monthly in order to sponsor our three Compassion kids.  Their pictures are framed in our hallway and are on our fridge and we love the letters we get from them!  These amazing children who have so little, are still caring enough to ask about our needs and pray for us!  If you want to partner with God’s heart for the poor of the earth and His special love for children, as well as His burning desire to bring justice to the earth, then I would encourage you to consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International or Compassion Canada. 

I also hope to bring you more information about Compassion’s ministry over the following months, so stay tuned for news on the needs of poor children across the globe, other ways you can get involved, prayer requests, and more!