The Heart of a Child

This is a picture of Wendy before she came to live with Paul and Carina

Wendy and her new dolls

Wendy is a little girl who is one of the Orphans in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea where Paul and Carina are serving as missionaries with the Living Light Foursquare Church. She caught their heart when they first saw her with her broken leg sitting at the Church on a bench with no food and shreds of clothing on. Her mother died in December and Wendy was left with little to nothing to eat and to wander crying looking for food…she is four.

Paul and Carina agreed to take her in to live with them until the Orphanage is built at the Church. She is now attending the school where my grandson attends and is eating regularly and sleeping in a bed for the first time. Carina tells of  the adjustments for Wendy on her blog at www.missionarymommy.wordpress.com

We sent a box with shoes for this little one and two dolls that we had found, one of them was a cuddly baby doll. What delight to get to see her (via the webcam) open the box with the shoes and the doll, she was delighted and danced around as she quickly tried on what could have been her first pair of brand new shoes! But the thing that struck me the most was the sense of contentment on her face as she held those baby dolls, as the heart of a little mama came out in a little girl without a mother.  God placed that heart in her and gave her  His heart for all little ones like her. A heart to draw us close to Himself and to hold us near … a heart of love and compassion. I am grateful for the heart of my heavenly Father who wants to draw me close and love me. I am grateful to get to see it manifested in one of His little ones.

Thank you Lord for little glimpses like this of who You are!

Luke 18:16-17 Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” NLT

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One-bel/ Same Heart

Carina said that to me the other morning when I was up interceding for her and a four year old orphan that God had put into her life. She was praying about the same thing as she was going to bed in Papua New Guinea and found my internet on as I was composing an email to her with the scriptures I had found. So we were able to ‘chat’ online for a few precious moments. We found out that both of us were holding a cup of PNG tea in our hands – hers to get her ready for bed in PNG and mine to wake up in the early morning in Southern California. She explained to me that one-bel meant that we had the same heart. I was honored!

I assured her that she could go to bed in peace knowing that I would continue to pray throughout the day and take the next shift in prayer. We comforted each other with the things that God was speaking to us regarding the situation and I was so grateful just to be able to share this burden with her. Then I realized that this was God’s heart! We not only had one heart as we prayed for a lost little orphan that Carina was trying to reach out to, but that we had ‘one heart’ with God as He had put the concern of this little one onto our hearts.

It is God’s heart that we are ‘one bel’ with Him so that we can truly get a grasp of His great love for all of creation. This one little four year old Orphan who had two women across the globe interceding at the same moment for her , was hugely significant in God’s eyes! She didn’t realize how lost and in danger she was, but God did and that was important to Him. So important that He had me wake up in the middle of the night to pray for her and to ‘join’ Carina in prayer in PNG.

I wonder who He had up in the middle of the night praying for me, who did He burden to intercede for me when I was lost in the dark and in danger? Only heaven will reveal who those dear saints are that I owe a life-time of being rescued from destruction to. For now I am eternally grateful for them and thank God they had ‘same bel’ with God’s heart where I was concerned.

If we are called into a relationship with a wonderful God who has this much concern for one little starving orphan in Papua New Guinea, it should make us realize that He is concerned for all of His children no matter if we are lost in the US, Canada or Africa…He is genuinely concerned for all of us. We just need to hear His heart and allow our heart to be one with His. Same-bel

Jesus called a little child to stand among His disciples and said…

Matt 18:10 “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones . For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” NIV

Matt 18:12-14 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost”. NIV

We are in our matching 'meri' blouses

Amazing Story of Lost and Found

Ever lost your Bible?  Not just any Bible, but that childhood Bible that you’ve marked up, memorized and have special memories of?

Before leaving for the jungles of Papua New Guinea, Foursquare Missionary Carina Greer, a wife and mother of 2 young children, lost such a Bible.

A crate of Gospel materials from Foursquare Missions Press recently made the long journey to PNG.  Upon arrival, the Greers, and local leaders, eagerly unpacked the boxes.  Even the wood from the crate was put to good use.  Leaders rejoiced over all the resources that would bless students, pastors and children.

Among the hundreds of used doctrinal books and Bibles, Carina would find a wonderful surprise.

“I opened the cover thinking, This can’t be! And, sure enough, my mother’s handwriting was inside…I’ve had this Bible since I was 5.”

Carina went on to share an insight we can all be reminded of:

“When it hit me that this was my Bible, I couldn’t stop laughing.  I kept thinking, Small world, big God.  The Bible is now safely with its original owner (me) and I keep it as a reminder that I could go to the ends of the world and God’s Word will always stay with me.”

They ship thousands of used Bibles and books, donated from generous people, all around the globe.  They constantly pray that the Lord will get each Bible and book into the right hands.  Even if it is the hands of the original owner!

 

 

 

 

Today you stand on the edge of your dreams!

As my only daughter was about to board a plane to Papua New Guinea and move her family to a nation literally across the world from everyone she knew and loved, I spoke those words to her…today you stand on the edge of your dreams.

It wasn’t like God didn’t give me fair warning this day would come. She had talked about her desire to go on the Mission Field since she was in fifth grade, she read every missionary story she could get her hands on. She had prayed and believed God, stayed focused all through High School when her dream and hope had been challenged in every way possible. (Maybe the strong willed side she got from me helped in this instance) I watched helplessly for many years as I saw her hold on to her hope when it looked so hopeless. She had waited and preservered for many years for this day to come.

Psalm 119: 116 tells us about the One who holds us up when it looks like our dreams may never come to pass…Uphold me according to Your promise, that I may live; and let me not be put to shame in my hope!

That means we get to lean on God to hold us up when everything would come against us to dash our dreams and our hopes. He is the one who upholds us and gives us promises to hold onto. He is the one who fulfills our lives and makes our dreams a reality.

So here she stood on the edge of her dreams and I realized that this had not come without its cost in every way possible, but God had sustained her, gave her grace to fulfill not only her dreams but God’s dreams for her.

Proverbs 13:12-13Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy.

Continue to hope, continue to dream, because the One who sustains you is also the One who fulfills and perfects all that concerns you.