Letters to orphans.

As a young girl I was captivated by adoption and caring for orphans. It started when I saw a young family in our church going through an adoption process (don't ever think young children in your church aren't paying attention to what you do!). The whole idea that a family could open their hearts to a hurting child with no family and show Christ's love - rescuing them like Christ has rescued us - amazes and excites me.

As I've read the Bible I've come across so many verses showing how dear orphans are to the heart of God.  I was also struck from reading in the book The Bravehearted Gospel by Eric Ludy, how Job sought out the orphans, instead of waiting for them to knock on his door.

I've desired for a way to reach out to orphans in this time of my life - even if it were a small way. But many ways to help were closed for various reasons. I thought even an opportunity to write letters to them would be wonderful, but, I was mystified at how hard it was to find a way to do that.

So I prayed. Gave it to my Heavenly Father. And let it go.

In December I received an email from some friends who do missionary work to Russia through a certain organization, about writing letters to orphans. I was a little skeptical (why is it that I'm often skeptical at first to answers to prayer?!? )... plus I was busy that time of year. I did go ahead and write one letter.

The lady that I sent it to (she took my letter and the others with her to Russia) sent me a postcard thanking me for writing the letter and telling me to feel free to write more and that they could be used for other countries...

Hmmm... so I was still a bit skeptical.

Finally, a few months later, I couldn't let go of the thought to send this lady a message and ask her if she still could use some letters. She wrote back telling me "Yes you can write lots! We could use 10,000 by June! Thank you!" =) I was amazed! The Lord had flung this door wide open!!

So I wrote out several letters. Grateful that the Lord would open a way for me to reach out to those I haven't seen, but still care about... from my home! =)  (And no, I didn't write 10,000. ;-)

I know this may seem like a simple thing. Most people I've talked to recently have sent a letter to orphans at some point in their life. But I have to say, every time I look back and see how the Lord answers a cry of my heart, it makes me rejoice!

The Lord is so faithful to answer our prayers ~ whether they're little or big!

To love you as I should.

“To love you as I should, I must worship God as Creator. When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.”

~from a letter C. S. Lewis wrote

 I think it's so true that when we love the Lord first and foremost, we will love others the way we ought. Oh, to truly love my Savior with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength!

Confident, Cheerful, and Content!

Resting in the sovereignty of God, brings a peace and calm that helps us to remain stable and sure.

Photo credit: here

I believe that this is a truth worthy of holding onto for the rest of our lives! I'm not sure about you, but I have moments when I wonder why a certain area of my life can't be different. When I was younger I spent so much time worrying. But I've found that these wonderments and worryings quickly pass and fade away when I realize that every single thing that has and will happen to me was planned by our all wise and knowing Creator. This is the key to a restful heart and a confident, cheerful, and content young woman!

This reminds me of Proverbs 31:25, "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come."  


Yes! We can indeed laugh and rejoice at the future! Because the Lord is sovereign, we can be confident through storm or sunshine, trials or triumphs. This is a confidence that lasts. Confidence in ourselves is such a shaky ground to build on, and it's sure to fail and bring us to sadness, as I've experienced!

Let's rest in our Savior's arms, and smile joyfully at the future, because He is in control! 

"In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge."Proverbs 14:26

{Participating in Encourage One Another Link-up}

learning more about humility...

You can find it here: Amazon

A month or so ago I read a wonderful book called The Power of Words and the Wonder of God. I was greatly benefited by the whole book, but the last two chapters called Conversations with the Contributors (they're transcripts of talks from a Desiring God conference), opened my eyes to some things I've been missing. I wrote this post out soon after I read it and just haven't posted it until now.

So without quoting the whole section of the book I would like to share with  you a few bits and pieces from it! I hope they will serve as a refreshing reminder!

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I've read books about humility before, and I learned much from them, but the explanation of humility from this book made so much more sense to me.

The bottom line: Humility is essentially self-forgetfulness.  

Mr. Piper says: "...the way you experience humility is by not experiencing it - which is self-forgetfulness. The really humble person is not thinking about himself. He should be thinking about two other things: one is how glorious God is, and the other is how he could help another person, being involved as a servant and being really active."

I found this paragraph surprising: "Our church is located two blocks from a major mental health institution. One of the things that all the folks there have in common -- and we love them to death and they come and do funny things at our church and some of them we know really well -- is that they're all wrapped up in themselves. All mentally ill people are consumed with themselves. They don't connect right with what other people are praying. They don't understand what's going on in the situation. Everything is just in their minds, swirling around with guilt or fear or panic... But all of us are that way a little bit. And so, to me, mental health is very largely finding out how not to be that way."
Humility is good for mental health!

There are two ways Mr Piper suggests to help us move toward humility. One way is to ask for it. And the second way is to familiarize yourself with greatness (focus on God, other people, a story... something greater than yourself).

I think humility is the key to a truly happy and productive person. When you're not caught up with yourself,  there won't be the fear, self-consciousnesses, and the ease of getting discouraged. I've discovered personally that when my focus is on Christ... productivity increases dramatically!

This is my ever increasing desire in life: Treasure Christ above all things. That's where the joy is, and that's when I'll be truly helpful to others.


"Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
~1 Peter 5:5 

Who should our friends be?

Credit to: Phaitoon

Through my growing up years I have known people who were extremely picky over who their friends should be - trying to get the best of the best or being afraid they will be brought down. But I have to ask myself, is this really right? Is it Biblical?

 We are instructed in Proverbs 13:20 that, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” There is great wisdom in this verse that we would do well to head, but, does this give us a ticket to pick and choose? What if I happened to need someone wise to walk with and I happened to not yet be “wise enough” for the other and they turned their back on me? Let’s look at another verse a little closer.

 For most of my life I’ve read Proverbs 12:26 as meaning we should choose our friends carefully. After all, that’s what my version of the Bible said: “The righteous choose their friends carefully,” but after reading a commentary and getting advice from a friend who is more experienced in the Hebrew language, I found out that the word “choose” in Hebrew is more accurately translated in this verse as meaning “guide”.

This means something totally different than I had thought! Instead of trying to encircle ourselves in all of the
people who we think will benefit us the most, we’re really supposed to “guide” our friends. What a responsibility!

If God is sovereign over the daily events of our lives, (and I believe He is), I think it’s safe to assume that the people He places into our lives are there for a good reason. I love how C. S. Lewis communicates this: “In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.”

 As children of God we should desire to be around those who are actively striving to grow in their faith and who can strengthen our walk with the Lord (walking with the wise). But let’s not exclude those who don’t give us what we need (we may possibly be the person they need to walk with). Let’s strive to build up those in the household of faith who are struggling, bear with those who are weaker than us.

There may be unbelievers whom God has placed in our lives who are not the best to spend a lot of time around, but we can be a faithful friend to them when we do come in contact; guiding them and being salt and light to them.

 We’ll know how to best guide our friends when we look to Jesus because our best example of a true friend is found in Him. All friendships are perfect opportunities to image forth grace, selflessness, and joy in Christ. Yes, even when it hurts. May we strive to be a good companion to those God has chosen for us and guide them with wisdom and find the joy and smiles it can bring to our lives.
~Ana Wolf

Friendships Filled with Life

-Photo credit-

Why do we need friends?  I mean, why not just live the life of a hermit, secluded in a tiny cabin all by ourselves?  You can’t get hurt there. You would be safe there. Or is it really a safe place? 

Actually, we’re never safe with sin and ourselves around. (But there is safety in the arms of our Savior amidst the troubles of this world.) We need friends. A good friend will sharpen us (Proverbs 27:17) and encourage and give hearty counsel (Proverbs 27:9). In Proverbs it tells us that it is foolish to seek our own desire and to isolate ourselves (18:1), but that there is actually safety in a multitude of counselors (11:14).

I’ve known both the pain and the joy friendships can bring. Except for a few pen pals that I had as a young girl, the only good friends I had as I grew up were my sisters, (and we’re still very good friends!). Not all, but most of the “friends” that my family and I had at a certain point in my childhood didn’t exactly manifest grace or forgiveness or words of truth.  I was keenly aware that I could do one wrong thing and that would possibly be the end of the friendship. I’ve had to accept that God had a reason for those unusual friendships. I think experiencing the tension of that has intensified my desire to become a good friend. It makes me eager to know what being a true friend really is, because I want to be that friend. 

But as much as we need friends, we need to find our total rest and confidence in the Lord, otherwise we run the risk of becoming bitter from hurts, plus we’ll have something worth imparting to others when the Lord is our joy! If we’re in constant fellowship with our Friend, He will seep through us more and more and we will grow more and more into the friend we would like to have.

Christ laid down his life at the cross and showed true sacrificial love. His grace is boundless. He is full of joy. Through His word He gives us words of refreshment and warning. He cares for us. He is faithful and forgiving (He doesn’t suddenly give up on us if we mess up). The list goes on. Aren’t these characteristics that we’re drawn to in a friend? (I’ve also come to the conclusion that the Lord has a sense of humor, and I love that in a friend!)

A friend is an imitator of Christ. They die to themselves and are someone who is there in the thick and thin and display the selfless love and forgiveness of Christ. They show interest in what another is doing. They're able to confront sin and also are affirming and pointing others to Christ. 

It’s easy to become dependent on our friends, especially when we see these qualities in them. But that is the surest way to collapse into discouragement. The Lord is the dependable one and the only one worthy of this reliance. When we’re not depending on a friend, there is really no room for retaliation or bad feelings towards them because you’re not having unrealistic expectations of them.

This means that if we feel weak and unable to be a good friend, we’re then more qualified than ever to be a true friend! For He tells us: “”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”’ {2 Corinthians 12:9}. He is perfected in our weakness. (That’s encouragement!)

When we live in the awareness of our sinfulness and Christ’s mercy and grace, we are the best equipped to be a selfless friend!  There’s safety in this kind of cross centered friendship. It’s easy to want to keep a record of wrongs and feel sorry for oneself when someone doesn’t treat us the way we think we should be treated. This is why we need to look to the cross to find the source of being a good friend. We have been forgiven so much. In light of this amazing forgiveness, this erasing of our wrongs against a Holy and just God, how can we, who are forgiven, keep a record of wrongs against a friend? In a true friendship, whenever we fall there is forgiveness waiting.

True friendships are built in the unchanging grace, love, and joy that only come from Jesus. When we spend time in the presence of Jesus and bask in His character we will be able to be a true friend – loving people truly, for no selfish gain of our own. All of our deepest needs are met in Him (and a faithful friend will remind another friend of this when they’re struggling).

Let’s be occupied with Someone much greater than ourselves. Treasure Jesus. Be steadfast in Him. Let’s see every pain in a friendship as an opportunity to extend and manifest His grace. What a beautiful thing that we can manifest our Friend’s character to the friends that the Lord has chosen to place in our path. It’s not a painless journey by any means. It’s a constant living out of God’s grace. It’s a constant dying to bring life. It’s setting our gaze outward. Life-filled, God-glorifying friendships are worth it!

~Ana R. Wolf

Gifts of His Providence

Photo credit: Evgeni Dinev

"It is a mercy that our lives are not left for us to plan, but that our Father chooses for us; else might we sometimes turn away from our best blessings, and put from us the choicest and loveliest gifts of His providence."

~Susannah Spurgeon

~Be faithful, not fretful~

Photo credit: Photostock 

My heart is prone to fret some days. I see so many directions in life that I could go in. So many areas I could pursue. So many dreams. I keenly feel the need for the Lord's guidance, and I wonder, (it's fretting, really), what if I don't do the right thing? What if I were to come to the end of my life and realize that I didn't spend my time on the right things? A pitiful plight indeed!

But Christ died to save me from this plight. To wash away this sin of fretting and anxiety. How can I travel down this road any longer? Thankfully the Lord rescues me with His truth! The other morning as I read in the book of Mark, the Lord highlighted something in His word that warmed my soul so much!! Here it is:

"And as He (Jesus) walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him." -Mark 1:16-20

See it? Simon, Andrew, James and John were all doing what was at hand. They were faithful to their work. And? When it was time for them to change their course of action, God called them. God called them from their duties as fishers of fish, to be fishers of men! They didn't need to worry or wonder.

Which reminded me of another passage in the Bible:

"He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. 
So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands." ~Psalm 78:70-72

Oh the peace that sweeps over me when I see, that when it is time, God will call me from where I'm serving Him at the moment to something else that He has scripted in my story since before time began. Cast my care on Him, oh my soul! Pray, and roll these cares on Him! He will direct. He will call.

And, oh, the sheer bliss of knowing that I'm not in control! I can rest while I work, as I trust His sovereign guiding hand! Fretting is ridiculous at the least. At the most it's dishonoring to an all powerful God.

Let's trust the Lord's heart as we give our desires and longings to Him! This time of life may just be the training ground for something greater down the road. As in the verses from Psalm (above), God was training David in the skillfulness of shepherding sheep to someday shepherd His people, so he is using us right in this moment to specifically train us for something He has planned for us in the future.

Never despise the day of small beginnings {Zachariah 4:10}. May our hearts be faithful and trusting, not fretful and troubled.