Open the eyes of my Heart

"I love praising God." Don't hear that very much do you? Not in today's americanized culture. You hear "I love this song," or "I love this phone." But to genuinely LOVE praising the Lord? I didn't realize that it was possible for a young child to love praising the Lord until I met a little girl called Jalia. Jalia has the heart of an angel. Shy and timid, she kept her words few, but oh the meaning of them. We were sitting in devotions one night while ebony hands were being raised to the air and young ugandan bodies were swaying to the beat of the massive drum, and I had the privilege to stand next to Jalia. This was only the second night we were there so I had spoken little to her. But as a song finished, she beckoned for me to lean down and she said to me, "I love praising God." It blew me away. Tears started forming in my eyes and I had to work to blink them back. As I continued to watch her, I saw those words come true in her l...

"AMIGOOOOO!" yells Rudy as I walk into the doors of the Eagles' Nest, savoring the sights and smells of it all. Guatemala, the birthplace of my youngest sister, Johanna. I have traveled here before in 2007-I was nine years old, completely oblivious to the horrors of the 3rd world. But again, recently, August 11th of 2012 I started my second trip to Guatemala to a place called the Eagles' Nest. When we first got to the Eagles' Nest, I met this little girl named Flores. I really felt that this was a child that the Lord strategically placed in my life...so I pursued her. I played with her, spent time with her, did homework with her, danced with her, you name it. But God had other plans. Before the week was over, I always seemed to find this little boy in my lap. His name was Rudy. Setting eyes on Rudy at first, I saw signs of faint scars, which ripped my heart to shreds. It turns out that he had arrived at Eagle's Nest two months before we had gotten there ...

Psalm 27:13-14: "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. [WAIT] for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." To wait for the Lord. How hard could it be, right? Sometimes us lowly human beings decide that OUR ways are better than HIS. We do kind of have it all under control, right? Wrong. Waiting is a very hard thing, because we think we have everything under control and know exactly what we need for our life. In pleading with God to take me back to Uganda soon or Guatemala, or somewhere other than America, He made me realize something very important. The Lord is better than life. And through the kids that I went to serve, I was taught that. That nothing matters except praising God and bringing glory to Him. But when I came home, I was disgusted. I was disgusted with the way people live, with how Americans think they're so rich, but really, they're so P O O R. And I wanted out. So I prayed, ...

             Tuesday came with a strange excitement about seeing Angel. I walked into the gates of poverty again, seeing cow intestines being sold on the sidewalk, and charred fish covered in maggots, watching children sit in the mud while their mothers worked. When we got to Rays, I searched for angel urgently, feeling God telling me to find her. Classroom to classroom I searched, praying that rememberence would be there for her when she saw me. The last classroom I walked into was a “baby” one, and so I hoped she would be here.   I asked several children where she was, fingers pointed and my heart grew so big. There she was, running after me, again. I picked her up and held her close as tears from out of nowhere started coming down my dirt-covered face. I took her out of the classroom for a few short minutes, asking her how she was and simple questions like that. I asked her if she remembered my name, and out of probably 50 children ...

Some people pray for connections, some people pray for witnessing opportunities, some direction. But I prayed for a child. I prayed for a connection. One that I knew would be rekindled for many years to come. Arriving at the slums in Kabalagala left me breathless. People LIVE this way? I thought to myself, “gross.” And right then, I thought the very same word about my heart. Immediately, God started preparing me.             After a 10-minute walk to the heart of the slums, we arrived at a school called Rays of Hope. Allie has written multiple times about it, and describes it very well. But you can’t quite understand what she or I is talking about until you walk through the gate. Until you see. Rays of Hope sits directly in the middle of the Lord’s heart. Walking into Rays of Hope was like a breath of fresh air. The smiles, the laughter, and the giggles filled my heart to a level it has never been before. Immedia...