For my last few blogs I did a lot of going back in time. But for this blog we rejoin the present, already in progress.

This blog is going to be short on words (maybe, I'm not done with it yet), and long on pictures. I'm preparing to get on another internationally bound airplane.  I looked back (for just a minute) to remember when I first knew I was going to Ethiopia and my thoughts were “how am I going to do this?” “How am I going to convince people to help me?” So, my third post ever I wrote out the whole story, and threw in some closing arguments. Thinking somehow I needed to convince people to help. I knew it was God who provided, but I thought my words had to do the convincing. I not only asked How?, I also asked Why?  I remember talking with Jessica and others about wondering why God would want me to go on that trip, it wasn’t my adoption. It wasn’t my story. But, each time we say "yes" to God, we take a step down the path He has for us. It was part of His story for me...I just didn't know it yet.  I always wish I knew the future.  Most of my struggles tend to be centered around my lack of knowledge of it.  Hindsight tends to be generous with me though.  I now look forward to hindsight.  I'm learning to not hold my breath and walk with my eyes closed waiting for it, because I know it's coming.

The trip to Ethiopia led me down a path that eventually took me to India. I had context.  God created in me a very high need for context. I could fathom going to India, because He had taken me to Ethiopia...and safely back.   I'm sure for people who have travelled extensively probably find it silly that its was such a big deal. It wasn't like a trip to Mars.  But, it was for me.  For India, I still had to raise some funds personally, so I went to the blog again thinking I needed to explain and ask again. I prayed for at least $200 dollars right away because my visa was going to cost that much and I needed to get it quickly. My first donation was for $200. I didn’t ask for that specifically from anyone but God. He put it on their heart.  And ultimately what was given was enough to cover my hotel cost and some of my incidentals.  Just as had been required.  It wasn’t my words; it never was and never will be. It is “not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.” Let’s go ahead and say nor by eloquent, run-on sentences with poor punctuations, either. (I write as if I’m talking, and I don’t check for run-on sentences while speaking. I know some of you have noticed.)   The point is:  God is. He will orchestrate and provide.  He will do what He says He will do.  A line from Believing God by Beth Moore that I read while I still lived in Tulsa.  Be careful reading it, God will change you.  Because of His faithfulness in these paths He has led me down, he has set me like flint to just say yes and then share the story as an invitation for it to be part of your story of what God may call you to say yes to as well. Too many "to's" in that previous sentence, probably not enough punctuation.  I'm sorry.  Please keep reading...   

So this time, I'm not asking because I know God will provide (ref: Texas, Ethiopia, India), but I am sharing the story and inviting you to be a part of it.  Hopefully, it is a little more softly and tenderly...than desperately and fearfully. I'm not going to climb up a tower and starve myself.  It's just here is what is going on, would you pray and see if God is leading you to help.  Maybe He is, or maybe He has you helping somewhere else.  It's all His deal and all for His glory.  Love is a way better motivation than guilt or fear. In May I’m travelling to Sri Lanka with a group from the ministry where I work. I had never heard about the needs in this country, maybe you haven’t either. So, here is the story and please pray to see if possibly by His Spirit, you are to be a part of it.

In the past two years Sri Lanka has just come out of a 28 year civil war. Politics do not matter for reference of this story. The damage has been done, and the consequences are being lived out daily by the survivors. In one area of the country there is an estimated 80,000 widows, where it is believed 100,000 people have died in this little country south of India. These widows who do not see Hope, are committing suicide rapidly, as they come out from under war and are trying to adjust to the life that is left.  Not a war of words, or of parties, but a war that brought complete devastation.

Our ministry has been working with church groups in-country to open Hope Centers, with the goal of having several locations within the next few years. Through donations to our ministry we help them establish a location, get into partnership with the publisher out of India who provides Hope For The Heart Counseling materials in their languages, and then we come and provide training. Hope for their heart first through Jesus Christ and the Word of God meeting them right where they are. Then they spread Hope through these centers, like fire. “By His Spirit.”

Our Director of International Ministry travelled there recently and helped conduct a widows conference to encourage and equip those who have been ravaged by this war. Out of that conference young women who have been called by God to counsel and help those around them have come forward to facilitate the Hope Centers they desperately need. In May, we will meet with these church leaders and the women who will be operating these Hope Centers to encourage and train them. Beyond the cost of our travel, it costs about $150 on average to bring people to the city where we will be holding the event. That includes their travel and accommodations for our two day conference. We also hope to hold an open house at one of the locations that has recently opened near a slum area, to minister to the counselors there, the abandoned children of the slums and the families who live in that region. Drawing them to Hope. Drawing them to a safe Dwelling. "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Psalm 91:1-2. Maybe some of you would be able to help sponsor or co-sponsor one of them to attend. Here are pictures our Director brought home from his recent trip to help tell this story…


The Aftermath of War:

Many are still completely exposed to the ravages of a war that lasted nearly 30 years.

For years thousands of war refugees lived on these beaches.  As of a couple of years ago, they are no longer...



Our Director stopped to take a picture of this old bus.

Then she crawled out from under it.  That old bus is her home.  Her dwelling place.  She allowed him to take her picture.  She is one of the thousands who need Hope.



Seminar attendees.

Hope is building while she sleeps, and will be waiting for her.

 

These women will work in the Hope Center in their community.  At least one of them will be at our training conference in May.