Dear heavenly father,
I come before you today because my heart is hurting. In this very moment
there are children suffering from male nourishment, unclean water, AID's,ect..
People my age are starving on the streets. Today I woke up in a
comfortable bed, slipped on my slippers, walked to the kitchen, started brewing
coffee, and ate a banana. God, for that I am grateful. I am a selfish human.
I am aware of my blessings and am grateful for them, but what am I doing
for your other daughters that have nothing? For 19 years I have been thinking
of my own wants and desires, when just like you promised, you have already
provided me with everything that I need. God please forgive me.
Sobbing, I continued my prayer.
This past January I went on a trip to Guatemala and worked with many different orphaned children. Today their faces were imprinted on my heart. More often than I would like to admit, anxiety and worry have become rulers of my heart. Unfortunately, I become anxious and worried about things that have menial meaning in the eyes of the Lord. Seeking others acceptance, how I am going to have money to buy a new dress, how I am going to do on next weeks test, are all real examples of situations that cause me to sin. Selfish me.
You know those times when you are trying to feed your kid freshly picked and washed cucumbers? You gently place the well cut cucumbers down on the table in front of your child, and they stair at the plate and look up at you with a sassy look. "Mom, I am not going to eat these unless you give me ranch, or at least salt." The ungratefulness of this child upsets you to the point that you blurt out, "I don't care if you do not have ranch or salt, there are starving kids around the world and they would kill to have these cucumbers. You will eat these cucumbers if it is the last thing you eat." I know that is a cliché response, but in reality the verbal response is true. I am not saying the blurt of anger is justifiable. I just think we need to teach our kids about the harsh realities that are in our world.
One way that Christ loves his children is through undeserving blessings. For some God ordained reason, many of us American's have been outstandingly blessed. However, our society somehow disillusions our thinking. Statistics show that many American's, more than ever, are feeling more lonely and in need of consuming more and more than ever before in order to fill a void. If we were to stop buying into society and social media's lies, I believe our culture would look much different.
I call myself a Christian, yet I go through life a lot of the time with a selfish heart instead of a grateful heart. There are boys and girls younger and older than me that can't even fathom having their own bed, let alone their own room. Today we have our own bed's, our own room, or own televisions, our own bathrooms, or own blankets, or own closets, or own clothes, or own desks. What would the world look like if we gave up our desire of excess and helped those around the world, and in our own communities, to have the basic needs of life?
We complain about the injustice in this world. We sit back and watch our government officials having 1.4 million dollar budget parties, while they watch the homeless starve. We hardly do anything, however, to change the injustice.
Philippians 2:14-15 tells us to "Do everything without complaining
or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of
God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.
My goal is to do less complaining and more "doing." I know as I stress this to be more of an importance in my life, I will be tested. Please pray that God will give not just me, but also you to endure and persevere. Kingdom work is the best kind of work.
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