The Journey

This blog has got to be the most heartwrenching, yet heartwarming blog I have read. I found myself glued to this blog tonight, reading, and sobbing, sobbing, and reading more, and that has never happened to me when reading a blog before! It is truly inspirational. What this young girl is doing on her own in a foreign country, taking on the role of a mother to orphans is incredible. Undescribable. As a person who has been on a mission to a foreign land, and who has had a taste of what she is talking about, I understand. I understand when she talks about her children, and how she is their mommy. I felt that way on our mission to russia. Actually going to a country and working with orphans, and realizing the devastating reality of how many children really do have no one, and who are being used, abused, and treated as nothing hits you like a ton of bricks. She is parenting 10 children at the age of 19! When she talks about the excessive amounts of money and abundance of "things" that clutter our lives, but that we think we can't live without, I understand. When she talks about experiencing culture shock, upon returning to your own country, I get it. I can remember when returning from our mission trip in russia almost 9 years ago, and stopping in New York city to visit a friend, this happened to me. Most people would be excited to see New York for the first time. Not me. I was still in russia. I couldn't get it out of my head. I walked into a little convenience store, looked around, and couldn't buy anything. It was like a 7-11 or something, and as I glanced around, I could not believe the vast amount stuff we have access to in this country. I couldn't buy a thing. The store I went to in the little village in russia was next to a well, that the people gathered at daily to bring up their water in buckets. I didn't beleive this until I was there. The store had a counter with a lady working behind it, and a few meager items behind her you could point out to buy. When she counted the total of the prices of your items, she used an abacus. Every once in awhile, they would get a few cans of Coke to sell, and a line formed out the door of the tiny log cabin structure, all with people who wanted to get it before it was gone. After not being able to buy anything at the store in New York, I walked out, and started up the streets of New York city. I walked past many high end stores and shops, and had no desire to go in. My eyes were open to the consumerism, greed, and matierialism that many americans are trapped in. All I wanted to do was get home, and get rid of so much of the stuff I already had. It changed me. I came home, and vowed never to become like my neighbor. Never to want, and want. For a long time, those selfish desires were gone, but over time, I noticed how my environment gradually began to sway me back to that american overindulgent way of life. I work hard to not get materialistic. To do this, I need God. In comparison, I have done nothing close to what this girl is doing. I am in awe of her faith, and her willingness to live out what God is calling her to do. I can hear the cry of her heart, and I can relate to it. To explain this even more, I will use this example. Most things we use are made in China, right? I pondered that often, not being able to comprehend how China could make and supply every person in the U.S. with almost everything we use. How could this be possble, I thought? Well, after actually stepping foot in China, and seeing the amount of people that really do live in this country, I get it now. Yes, you hear that there are billions of people in China, but until I was actually there, standing in the middle of those people, seeing it with my own eyes, I didn't get it. Now I can easily understand how it is possible.

It's the same with orphans. I didn't understand the brutal reality until I was there. Standing in the midst of the fatherless. Holding their hands. Wiping their tears. Seeing the emptiness in their eyes. But it is real. There are hundreds. Thousands. Millions, of orphans in this world. I guess the reason most people here don't help them is because they don't understand. But I have been there. I have seen it. It will break you. I was broken. I have never been the same. When I hear someone around me complaining that they don't have enough money, when they live in a nice house, and drive a newer car, I have to bite my tongue often. Did you know that if your household makes over $40,000 a year, you are in the top 1% income bracket in the entire world?? That's how financially rich we americans who think we are poor really are!!! If you have a warm place to sleep, and something to eat, you are blessed beyond measure!!! Her blog has brought all of these things I am passionate about back to life. I need to do more. I want to do more. This time of year reminds me not of all that I am asking Santa for, but of all the little ones in this world that are huddled in a corner somewhere on the street just trying to stay warm, or the young boys sniffing glue to take the hunger pains away or the babies being left on the side of the road that will not know the loving warmth of a mother's arms unless they are one of the more fortunate ones that will one day be adopted.

I didn't know I was going to write all of this...I really just wanted to share this blog with you. Please read it when you can. It is better than reading a book. There are compelling pictures that go along with her story...a story of girl who stepped out in faith...and who is making an amazing difference in the lives of children who have no one to care for them. And she is doing it all for God's kingdom and His glory.