A couple of months ago, a dear friend suggested I start blogging again. Especially start blogging about my recent experiences. I have to say, as most of you know, I'm not very good about keeping up with this blog thing and I know I've said I would countless times before, but I think this is actually a great place for me to put down my thoughts and experiences (besides Facebook) and plus it helps me process what I'm walking through. So you might see me on here a little more often. :) But I'm not promising anything. :)
As I sit in this VERY quiet office (everyone, but me, is still "gone to lunch" :) I've NEVER worked in an office THIS quiet!) :) But as I sit here, I'm able to think about what the last 7 months have brought about in my life. In a nut shell, I've quit my full-time job at OU, moved home to live with my parents, gone to Uganda (wow!), started raising support for my new job (YAY!) and lived the life of a temp for the last few weeks. :) If you look back a couple of posts in my blog, you'll see me talking about my lack of faith with God that He would provide a way back into ministry for me. Funny thing is, He already had at that point. In fact, I had already talked to the gal who is going to be my boss as soon as I get my support raised and who has become a very fast and dear friend. She had already laid my dream job on teh table in front of me. I was just too blind to see it because I "wasn't going to raise support because I'm really bad at it". :) You know those times that you feel like God is just shaking His head and smiling at your stubbornness? Well, that was one of those many times in my life. When I finally was willing to take that leap of faith (and by leap I mean LEAP!) God confirmed over and over again His provision and love. I can't tell you how many things fell into place for me to walk this path. They weren't all easy, they still aren't all easy. But they are sweet because my Lord and Saviour has given me this path to walk and He is smiling down on me as we speak.
So, for those of you who don't know what I'll be doing, I'm going to be the Mobilization Coordinator for Journey117 (www.journey117.org), a part of an organization called World Orphans (www.worldorphans.org). I will be helping plan trips all over the world that focus on God's heart for the orphan, learning about the orphan crisis and what people are trying to do to meet the needs of the orphan. God has opened my eyes to His deep heart for the orphan, for those who have no one to care for them, protect them, love them or teach them. There are 145 million reported orphans in our world and what are we as the church doing to meet this need that is so dear to our Father's heart? (I'm honestly asking that question, I'm not being judgmental.) What are we doing? Are we giving? Are we going? Are we adopting? Those are the questions we want our team members to ask of themselves and their churches. What am I doing? What can I do? What is my church doing? What can my church do? In Isaiah 1:17, God commands His people to "Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." That is where Journey117 derives it's passion and direction, a verse that is very close to our hearts. We want those around us to do the same. We know this looks different for each person and that's what I love about my new job! I get to walk beside people as they discover what this command means for them! We can't all adopt a little boy from Uganda or a little girl from Thailand. We can't all fund an orphan home project in India or a camp for orphans in Moldova where they will hear about (and experience) the love of Christ. But we can all go and see these children. We can all go and give them Christ's love. We can all seek our hearts and the wisdom of God to find out what our role should be to "defend the cuase of the fatherless". What will you do?
As I walk this new road, I'm faced with a big mountain. The initial building of a team of people who will surround me with their prayer and their finances so that I can move forward and begin the work that God has placed before me. He is calling people to this team and I have been blessed beyond measure by His grace and love shown through these people. But this team must grow. This is a God-sized task that He has chosen to use little ol' me to tackle. It will take a God-sized team to achieve this goal. Will you pray about letting God use you and your little ol' gift to help start this God-sized Journey? If you're interested in more information on how you can give or go, please feel free to contact me at emily@worldorphans.org. God is faithful, I know that full well. :)
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