This six week quest we are doing is so great for me. To take my attention off of my own life and focus on the world.
30,000 children die every day from hunger. It is a big number. And it is hard to wrap my head around the fact that that number ACTUALLY represent such a devastating fact


Here’s how I have ministered to the poor with my:
Head: Reading books like HOLE IN THE GOSPEL to really understand the facts of POVERTY
Heart: Praying!
Hands: I was a midwife if the Philippines helping bring babies into the world at a charity birthing center. I was a pre-med student who went to Africa and fell in love with children, holding them one by one in the orphanages.
Feet: Going to places of need: I distinctly remember walking through the slums of Nairobi with a new African friend, seeing the sewage overflowing in the streets and children playing soccer with rolled up plastic bags tied with string. My feet have taken me to Mexico, Philippines, Uganda, Rwanda,Burundi, Tanzania, Border of Texas.......to experience something my heart never lets me forget....

Here’s how I could minister to the poor in the FUTURE with my:
Head: Do more research to find out more about AIDS, POVERTY,FAMINE, learn more about each country and the people and cultures that are in each one.
Heart: Spend more earnest time in prayer. Be passionate and intentional about doing something to make a difference for all these little children. TAKE ACTION...use all that is in my heart and out it into tangible acts of love.
Hands: Give more of my money to these organizations. Find creative ways to raise money and awareness like running a marathon
Feet: Go! I want to go to MEXICO more. I want to take my family to Africa. I want to go to SOUTHEAST ASIA. I want to go to the APPALACHIAN mountians. I want my feet to find themselves in places of significance. I want to be unsettled in my thinking. I want to be uneasy to the point of having to take action. I want to expose my heart, my feet, my body, my family to the reality of this world's situation....the devastation of famine and poverty...but also be a LIGHT....
LORD GOD I am only here for a time...please help me to do work of significance.
I love this challenge.....I want to be saturated with this type of information and reality so that I cannot be complacent.

One of my favorite songs is ALBERTINE and she talks about this moment in life where her world changed...and she knew that she would never be the same...she couldnt forget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGx-xU6TnU8

OKAY now for confession time:

On Sunday, our intern came and did an inspection of our house. She immediately went to the refrigerator. For CPS regulations, we have to label all food with date and time opened and expiration dates. Some of the items that was open from the morning, such as a package of sausage and cheese were unlabeled, so she made me throw them away. Then therafter I went through the other refridgerator, and threw away left overs that I know my girls will not eat.....EVERYTIME I threw another piece of food in the trash I felt awful, uneasy, disgusted with myself.....tonight my husband made me macaroni and cheese and he didnt finish his...i couldnt let it sit there...because I couldnt come to terms with having to throw it out. I saw a picture in my head of a little boy with a swollen belly just looking at me......asking the question: how come you have so much leftover, and I have not had a meal in 2 weeks? I am struggling with these questions and issues. LORD I need to be a better steward of my money. I need to be more mindful of what is need and what is want. I need to THANK GOD everytime a piece of food touches my mouth or everytime I get the chance to drink a cold glass of NONPARASITIC water.

So in this challenge, I want to be changed. I want to change the way I do things. I want to change the way I see things. I want to INTENTIONAL and MINDFUL that they things I do here in NORTH AMERICA can impact people in AFRICA. I want to remind myself that the experiences I have, all the priveleges I get are not, what the rest of the world experiences. I am blessed.

GOD why did you take me from being the 8th child of a Mexican woman who could not buy her youngest milk(me) to being an American citizen with a great family, a job, and a roof over my head. I know it is not something that happened by accident.

Humble me more Lord and teach me how to love and give to your children more.