The Young Family Farm »

I was reading Henri Nouwen’s book “In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership” and came across this paragraph that I wanted to share:

“From the heart come the words, “Do you love me?” Knowing the heart of Jesus and loving him are the same thing. The knowledge of Jesus’ heart is a knowledge of the heart. And when we live in the world with that knowledge, we cannot do other than bring healing, reconciliation, new life and hope wherever we go. The desire to be relevant and successful will gradually disappear, and our only desire will be to say with our whole being to our brothers and sisters of the human race, “You are loved. There is no reason to be afraid. In love God created your inmost self and knit you together in your mother’s womb” (See Psalm 139:13)

On our Wiphan Care Ministries Board (http://www.wiphan.org/) I am known for having a love with thermometers. Not thermometers that tell the temperature—but thermometers that show progress toward a goal. I don’t know what it is—but they get me excited! Maybe it’s my VBS (Vacation Bible School) ole Southern Baptist past…you remember–how the leadership would post that HUGE thermometer to raise money for the week for the Lottie Moon Offering Goal?! If you grew up going to GA’s, VBS or anything of the like…you know exactly what I’m talking about;).

I just finished up 6 of my mini-sessions today…I’ve got 3 tomorrow and several more sessions throughout the week. I typically only shoot 1-2 sessions a week–but I’m picking it up here to pay for our adoption up front, and I’m really excited to watch and see God provide. Last week I was really struggling with trust–but man, I’m completely psyhced as I am at total ease and completely trusting Him. I *know* He is going to provide. I could have kept this worry to myself–but instead I put it out there…gave it to my brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for and carry with me…and the great thing about that is that in the end He will not only receive the glory–but He will receive MORE glory! Yay!

So…in my excitement to watch God provide…I created a fun little thermometer in the bottom right margin. I’m trusting God to provide this in the next 2 weeks before we submit our dossier. I’m booking extra sessions–yes–but in the end it is REALLY Him who is doing the providing!!! So far…it’s slowly climbing. Our last home study is tomorrow and our dossier collection is almost ready to go…I’ll just be waiting for our finished home study and it’s off!!! My goal is to have everything in the mail on the 30th of this month…so of course my goal is to have that amount by then too! I’m really trusting Him and so excited to see how He works!!!

And on a side note–we had the BEST sermon at church today. It was on God’s wrath. Woa. Not something you normally hear preached about. But very true–very real–and very convicting. Our God loves a lot of things. But He hates a lot of things too. Did you know there is more in the Bible about God’s wrath than His love? God hates sin. He hates when we let our flesh get in the way. He hates when things are unjust. Let us not give up on doing good—loving others…even the unlovable—and not let petty things distract us from remaining in His will. Remember when someone hurts you or is unkind to you—LOVE back. Take a deep breath–put the feelings your flesh WANTS to feel where they belong…and LOVE! Do not get caught up in gossip. Do not talk about those who hurt you–tell Jesus all about it…and let Him take care of it freeing you to follow Him and not fall into sin. Cling to what is good, hate what is evil. And pray for those who do not understand or who are caught up in sin or petty behavior. As long as you are in this world–you will run into people on a daily basis who do not follow God—do not love through His power…even believers will fall into the trap of being unkind to one another. So, when someone unbeliever or even harder to understand a believer is unkind…put it all where it belongs…at the cross of Jesus and be free to serve others, love others and know Him deeper. Our God is a god of love–but also a God of wrath. He is to served, loved and feared. And I fear Him to much to not give up loving…even those who are hard to love. Help us Lord to love and see others as you see them. Help us to be filled with more of You so we can love as you do. And help us not let our hearts and feelings deceive us about what really matters—because following you is all that really does.

Now…go check out my thermometer and watch God work!

***Update—took Mr.Thermometer down when we reached our dossier goal! God amazingly helped us raise $5K in a week through work creativity:). Yay God!