"Something" For The New Year

I wasn’t planning on posting anything else in 2013 but it seems I have one last thing to say. :)

The other night, I had a bit of a meltdown as I sat outside of our local hospital. For the third time in three days, I was about to walk into a room where a family held their baby who would never come home and never grow up. I volunteer for an organization called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. I, along with two other photographers in our town, do remembrance photography and we have had more than a handful of cases in the past week. I cried for more than the obvious reason. I cried because this world is just so messed up... so broken! Mothers should never have to burry their babies.

We are so close to crossing over into a brand new year. We all have hopes and aspirations of a wonderful 2014 (whether or not you vocalize them in the way of resolutions). Don’t lie. I know you. We all have some sliver of hope that the new year will be better in some way, shape or form from the previous year. And while there’s a chance that our hopes may become reality in our own lives, the truth is that so much of this world will remain the same and likely just get worse.

There will still be mothers who burry their babies (whether 25 weeks in utero, 25 minutes old or 25 years old). There will still be those who creep in the darkness – or even in the light of day – and steal what isn’t theirs. There will still be sinful rulers and politicians who view human life as a comodity to be used for their own personal gain and agendas. There will still be back-ally “businesses” that sell girls’ innocence for men’s sinister pleasure until there’s nothing left but track marks. There will still be children who hide in the closet trembling because mommy or daddy is sick and mean again. There will still be women who feel so trapped in their own pregnant bodies they will believe the lies that there is no other choice than to get rid of that “clump of cells”. There will still be brave men and women who will engage in combat for our freedoms and never come home alive again. There will still be husbands who have to remind their wives who their children are because Alzheimer's has stolen so much. There will still be storms that take out whole towns and villages leaving behind death, sickness and devastation. There will still be hungry bellies in cardboard houses. *Sigh* There will still be six year old little girls who spend all six of their years in an orphanage because they didn’t meet certain expectations. And the list goes on.

This world is broken. There’s no denying that. Sin has left it’s mark on mankind and mother nature and there is no life that is not affected. 

I didn’t bring all this up to be a Debbie Downer and ruin your New Years Eve celebration. I’m not trying to preach gloom and doom. In fact what I really want to say is that God is bigger than all the brokenness in this world. While some find it hard to reconcile all the pain and evil around us with a loving God who is sovereign over everything, the only solace I can find in any of this ugliness is that I do believe that God is in complete control and that he cares for us. 

Psalm 139:1-18 speaks beautifully of how God is so acutely aware of us and how dearly cares for us. 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
or darkness is as light with you.

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

So we’ve talked about the brokenness in this world and we’ve talked about how God is still loving and in control, and he truly cares for us. However, I think it’s fairly easy for there to be a disconnect between the two in our minds. I don’t think I’m alone in the fact that I kind of default to apathy on a day to day basis regarding all the brokenness in the world. I mean really, what can I do? I’m just one person. Just a wife and a mom. I don’t have any special influence or affluence. Looking at this huge world so messed up and full of hurting people and then looking in the mirror at plain ol’ me, I have a tendency to just inwardly shrug my shoulders and shake my head. There’s really nothing I can do, right? 

But what if there is? What if I play a part in the way God is loving and caring in this broken world?

This Helen Keller quote has stuck with me for a while now. It plays over and over in my head, and I pray that in 2014 it plays over and over in yours, too.

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

I am one and you are one and we can do something! 

What if we, The Church, stopped shrugging our shoulders in fear? Because that’s what it boils down to, right? Fear. Fear of failure. Fear of change. Fear of what people will think. Fear of nobody caring. Fear of being irrelevant. Fear of losing what makes us comfortable. Fear of not having the time. Fear of not having enough money. Fear of being inadequate. Fear. What if we chose to lay down our fear at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to help us be brave and full of faith? What if we got real gutsy and asked God to really show us ways that we could be his hands and feet and then actually obeyed when he did?

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of year after year passing me by and still feeling like I make no difference in the world. I cannot do everything but still I can do something. 

What is the something you can do? Maybe it’s a meal (made or bought). Maybe it’s a phone call and a listening ear. Maybe it’s contacting that adoption agency or saying "yes" to a child who needs a family. Maybe it’s a note of forgiveness. Maybe it's being aware and proactive about human trafficking in your home town. Maybe it’s taking a widow to her doctor appointments. Maybe it's thanking a veteran. Maybe it’s getting on a plane and giving your life to a people group who need to hear about Jesus. Maybe it’s sending the person who’s called to get on that plane. Maybe it’s praying for the family who just started fostering or just adopted. Maybe it's a kind word and a sincere smile. Maybe it's volunteering at your local pregnancy crisis center. Maybe it's voting or writing a letter to your congressman. Maybe it’s cleaning out your overflowing closet and filling one that’s bare. Maybe it's showing grace to your children. Maybe it's getting to know your neighbors. Maybe it’s a million other “somthings” that you and I CAN do. 

So, as we count down the hours left in 2013, I encourage you to look forward to 2014 and then look out... away from yourself. Because, while your waistline, career, home or bank account may change in the coming year, there are things that will remain the same. This world will remain broken and in need of hope and love. Will you do the something that YOU can do? 

I’m going to start a few hours early and do a small something...

We found out about Eden through a simple blog post. A plea from one mother to this mother – because I’m certain that post was written for me. So, I know that God can work through blog postings! Tonight, I am going to send out a plea on behalf of two little girls in Ind*a who really need families to call their own. 

The first little girl is a 5 year old in South Ind*a. I just saw her pictures and she is so beautiful! She has been waiting for a while to be matched with a willing family. She has a minor health condition but I would consider her healthy. The clock is ticking and this sweet baby needs somebody to say “YES” to her. 

The second little girl is an 9 year old in North Ind*a. I have seen her picture as well and her little face is just precious! She has been waiting for a family for years. She has some limb deformities, but our friends who met her said this doesn't slow her down one bit. This little girl needs a mom and a dad to cherish her. 

Here’s my plea. Will you not click off this page until you pray for these girls? If you know God has called you to adopt or feel like he may be tugging on your heart in that way will you take a moment to consider these two children? If you feel led, will you share about these little girls? I know that older children sometimes seem “risky” to families who are just beginning to consider adoption. I wasn’t open to older children at first either, but God quickly changed my heart about that and I realized children don’t grow out of needing love. Older children are just as deserving of and in need of a loving family as younger babies and children. I believe that there are families out there for both of these precious girls. We can’t adopt them right now but I can make this plea... this is something I can do. 

Thank you for hearing my heart one last time this year! I pray that 2014 is amazing for each of you and that it is a year full of “somethings.” 

Until next time! -K