God Calling......

What are we called to exactly once we choose Jesus?  I mean really, what is required and what isn't?  This is when I wish I had a phone that God could actually use to call me on and tell me what I am expected to do and what is just meerly a suggestion? 

I instantly thought of the time in Matthew when the Pharisees got together and tried to trick Jesus into choosing the greatest commandment. 

"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:34-40


If we follow Jesus' teachings the rest of what we 'should' do should fall into line.  Unfortunately we can get busy, blind, or complacent.  We can easily slip and become more like the Pharisees picking and choosing the call on our Christian life turning our backs or passing by precious faces. 

As Christians we are expected (by God) to care for the oppressed, orphaned, poor and widowed.  Look at the following passages with me:

"Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17


"And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."  Isaiah 58:10


"This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place." Jeremiah 22:3



"Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  James 1:26-27 


If you do a keyword search  on your bible software (or www.biblegateway.com) for widow, orphan, oppressed or fatherless dozens of passages pop up from the beginning of the Bible to the end.  They describe a loving Father hearing them, a Just God looking out for and defending them, a Thoughtful Creator making a way for them and a call for us to care for them as His arms.  If we really mean that we want to be Christlike we have to take up their cause.  I don't know how you could read those Scriptures and conclude that it is someone else's call. 

Now, before you check out on me and click on someone else's blog...hear me out!  I am not suggesting that everyone needs to pack up their belongings and move to Africa to run an orphanage, or start a widow support group in your home on Tues. nights, or go completely off your rocker and open your home adopting twins!  (Although it would be pretty cool if you did :)  But, I AM suggesting that if you aren't actively supporting adoption, widows, oppressed or the poor, you should! 

Whew!  That was hard.  I am not exactly a finger pointer.  Sorry if that made you uncomfortable, but don't take my word for it or accept a feeling of condemnation....grab your Bible and read it for yourself and wait for a healthy dose of conviction. 

A good friend of mine has set up an adoption support ministry.  She has devoted her life and her heart to the cause of the fatherless.  She put together this video for her latest seminar.  Please take a moment and look at the real faces of children God dearly loves and has a plan and purpose for.  Look at the families that have answered His call in a big way.  Ask yourself, is God calling me to do the same?

It's okay if God isn't calling you to adopt, but it would be hard to convince me that He is calling you to inaction.  I ask you to pray about what He is calling you to do. 

My daddy's favorite t-shirt was plain black and it said in white letters:

"FEED THE CHILDREN"

He supported that ministry with his whole heart and wore that shirt almost everyday until he died.  It can be that simple. 

Links to explore:

http://www.passion127.org/

http://www.feedthechildren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=dotorg_homepage

http://www.lcfs.org/

http://www.christianforums.com/f572/

http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf

Sitting on the Sidelines.....

Don't get me wrong, I ADORE the twins and am loving every minute of being a mommy to 7 incredible children, but I have been feeling a little bit down lately.  I am so used to being in the thick of ministry (official and personal) that I have been battling my thoughts a little bit.   I am not leading a Bible Study at the moment, or even attending one.  I am not teaching anything (outside of my children).  I am not writing a new study or leading anything at the moment. For goodness sakes,  I didn't even attend the Women's Retreat and that is always so special to me. 

To say it candidly, I feel a bit lost and left behind in the "Land of Poopy Diapers!"  Sleep and a home cooked meal are hot commodities at the moment.  I have been praying a lot in those wee hours in the morning and asking God to help me feel content in this season.  Honestly, I would have GLADLY given up leading, teaching, writing, studying or attending the retreat if He asked me to in order to have the babies.  So, it seems to make sense to not bellyache about it now.  The problem isn't God's, it's mine.  I seem to have Wonder Woman syndrome.  I think I can do it all----ALL THE TIME! 

This month provides another challenge.  I have a dear friend that is pregnant and about to deliver in the next week or so.  We were pregnant together and due on the same day.  I thought this one would be difficult, but it hasn't been.  I am so thankful for God's plan and for the blessings of Micah and Mariah that I have only joy for her.  I have been so healed of our miscarriage loss back in Sept. that it feels like years ago, not months.  Life has marched on and ours' has changed dramatically.  God has been good, very good, and I am still amazed at how He has blessed us.

So, I sit in church and watch my sisters in Christ, feeling like I am on the sidelines and they are in the game. And you know what? For the most part...I am okay with that.  But, I would be lying if I didn't say there was a tinge of wishing I could minister in some way.  So, like I said earlier it has been on my heart and I have been asking God how I could possibly add serving into my very demanding family life.  He has answered me in the sweetest of ways!

Yesterday I was in church and a friend came up to me and asked for a copy of the Bible Study I wrote for girls on inner beauty.  She told me about someone who wanted to do a study like it with her daughter.  I smiled as I handed her the copy I just "happened" to bring to church with me!  Hmmmmm....I think I just ministered in some small way!

Then she told me about another person she told about my blog and how I wrote about my miscarriages in a very transparent way.  She said her friend went here and read it and she felt less alone in her loss.  Hmmmm.....ministry?

Then today I received a phone call from a friend who told me how her and her husband reached out and helped a couple in a similar situation they were just in and encouraged them that it was going to be okay.  They shared with them how God helped them through this challenge and to continue to trust Him.  She said, "Shelli, we learned that from you and Mike, because you did it for us when we were there!"  I cried.  There is 3 different times in 3 different ways God was able to use me without me!  The Lord knew I was feeling left out and He made it a point to show me that I am not.

He has called me to be focused on our incredible 7 children.  He has asked me to care for these baby twins, love on them, bath them, change them, hold them through the night and that means I have to give up some freedom.  I'm okay with that!  Now that I think about it, I actually feel quite honored!