Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Caring, loving, and speaking for those who cannot.


It was late 2012. I sat in church listening to a missionary share about her mission work in Brazil.

I was at a point in my life of desperately wanting to get into something mission related. The desire to see shackled souls freed, and spread the joy and peace that the gospel brings and rescue and care for the orphan...

As this missionary talked and answered questions, it lead to the topic of children that go missing in the streets of Brazil. Children who go missing from child sacrifice in black magic. My heart broke and the urge to rescue these precious children bubbled within me...

And then it occurred to me. Right here, right now in my own country and in my own backyard thousands of innocent lives are being slaughtered on the alter of pleasure. How can I turn a blind eye to this? Should I not be faithful to combat the evil that is at hand, right where I am?!

That's when the Lord showed me something that He cared about deeply and something He wanted me to care about as well. He patiently took me through misgivings and fears and in an amazing way lead me straight to volunteering at a pregnancy resource center.

The facts of abortion and the extent of it is staggering and incredibly grieving...

"America, as a nation, is highly committed by law and by practice to a form of mass murder…. This nation, which certainly prides itself on its humanitarianism, is in a murderous cycle of violence that makes the Nazi Holocaust look mild by comparison. Nearly 2,000,000 babies are aborted a year in America. Every third baby conceived now is being murdered. Among teenage women there are 736 abortions for every 1,000 births. Among married women abortions now exceed births! More babies are killed than are born. Some would tell us that there is an abortion about every 15 seconds in America." -John MacArthur

So I share all of this for a few reasons...

To encourage any of you with a heart for reaching out to the hurting, to pray specifically for God to show you ways to help. God will answer your prayers for direction even if you don't think the road He's taking you on is exactly what you had in mind at first!

Remind yourself of the promises of God so that  fear and your feeling of inadequacy won't grip you and hold you back from the joy of serving. Over and over God uses weak people in the Bible. He still does. His grace is sufficient.

Ask God to open your eyes to the cry of the innocent. There are so many ways to reach out. Not only is abortion a huge issue, but modern day slavery is sweeping this world with injustice and cruelty like never before. There are many ways to help right in your near surroundings. May our hearts beat for what our heavenly Father's heart beats for, and may we each in our sphere of influence be the hands and feet of our Savior to spread His immeasurable joy and the good news of the gospel to all!

Open your mouth for the speechless, 
In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And plead the cause of the poor and needy. 

~Proverbs 31:8-9

After writing this I listened to a talk given by David Mathis on Mission and Disciple Making. I highly recommend it!! Super encouraging and goes along the lines of the "heart" of this post. :) 

2 comments:

Jacqueline@ Deeprootsathome.com said...

This is so grievous. How it must grieve the Holy Spirit. Thank you for caring enough to DO something, and I am blessed that you help get the word out, Ana. I will be sharing J.MacArthur's quote.
May you be blessed with the joy of the Lord!

Ana R.W. said...

Thank you, Mrs Line. <3