At long last those dear photos, I promised.
Thank you Lord, for the gift of life.
Thank you Lord, for the gift of family.
Thank you Lord, for the gift of love to fill our hearts to overflowing, without YOU God, none of this would be possible.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Does one life matter?
How many times have you seen commercials of starving kids and decided in your mind that the $32 a month they are asking for wouldn’t truly “do anything”, half would be wasted on advertisement and administration and so you mine as well just forget it. Besides, what would truly change if all you could give only affected one life when the media is overwhelming our minds with the MILLIONS that are dying and in need of our help? Truly, you might find many ways to justify that whatever you “could” contribute would never do any “real” good anyway. You’d become desensitized to the fact that these images are real human beings, real dying children, real suffering widows, real lives created by the hand of God with the same dreams & hope He created our very lives with. Maybe you’d quickly turn the channel or close the magazine or simply relate on a detached level just like the latest horror flick that seemed to make you cringe. At least that’s the way my brain *USED* to compute those gut wrenching advertisements, news articles, 60 minute specials and Sally Struthers infomercials. Until God shook me out of the safety of my lil bubble wrapped life in Buckman, MN and chose to impart the burden of his heavy heart physically onto my heart too. This is where I come to you with joy to tell the story of ONE boy and shatter all those misconceptions you might have been led to believe as I once did.
I don’t know how to do justice to a story I only *wish* I knew, but the assumed details that I do have are worthy in sharing to do some justice to my love and my family in Africa.
I finally found the words to formulate this final post on my beloved Best Family during the course of my past weekend. I was at another conference, spending some much needed time with my neglected girlfriends and how excited was I that our girly time together would be shared with Jesus too! So while I was at the Women of Faith conference I was consuming myself with looking for opportunities to “reach out” and pray for people instead of just truly soaking in the pleasurable company I had been gifted to share, you know me…I’m always multitasking and STARVING for a touch from God. To my surprise my full attention would be grasped beyond any possible distraction at this conference as I was blind-sided by something I didn’t expect to see. Something that found a way to strike a slightly buried chord in my heart to twang with joyful pain like an out of tune dusty, old guitar to an African beat. As the leaders of this conference announced their partner ministry and shared a video about the organization at work around the world named World Vision, I found myself sitting in my seat with my heart in my throat as images of beautiful African children danced across the jumbo screen! World Vision is a ministry that provides an opportunity for people to sponsor orphans and change their lives in a dramatic way (along with many other things). So they chose to present this opportunity by sharing a story of a sponsored child they reconnected with years into his adulthood. A young man from Rwanda, who against all odds is leading an amazing life and serving the Lord while changing the future for many and has been predicted to become Rwanda’s future president some day. I sat there as visions, memories, feelings and tears ravaged me inside, I wasn’t mentally or EMOTIONALLY prepared for this impromptu journey down memory lane! So I fought back the flood as my jaw dropped at the startling revelation of something very familiar;
As they spoke, I thought to myself... know this story, I too KNOW this story….but it belongs to another face, another name and another saved life. Although I don’t know a single detail to truly do justice to the story, I know this VERY STORY ~ just enough to bait my heart like a fishing line ~ just enough for my small mind & life to handle. This very life I had the pleasure of meeting while my feet were standing on the powdered red clay of Rwandan soil. A life that the Lord has intertwined with mine so intricately you’d have to be ignorant not to recognize there’s a bigger plan at work here. This is the life of Jean Claude, the “president” of the Best Family, who is truly a young man after God’s own heart! So this World Vision campaign sent me to a place far away as my physical body sat in the crowded Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN I found my spiritual self deep in the heart of Africa! In this moment, God finally provided the words and inspiration for me to share my 2nd half of the Best Family story. You see, I had been struggling on whether this post was "appropriate" and how I'd truly approach this dire and probably sensitive topic. I have been wondering how this very HUGE God of ours could entrust me....ME....with such a precious task.
I shared in my first post the specifics of my encounter in Rwanda and the logistics I knew about the Best Family sharing how the 4 lives of Jean Claude, Emmanuel, Salomon and David are miraculously changing and saving the lives of nearly 50 Rwandan orphans. I must tell you now, this story truly began years prior to this scene where I stumbled onto the stage to behold in awe the fruits of their tireless loving labor = the heavenly smiles of their Best Family children.
This is the story of one American man and a Rwandan boy that I imagine began somewhere in the mid to late 90's. A boy who lost nearly all his family to the genocide and by some glimpse of hope, managed to beat the odds of losing his own life and beat even more odds of succumbing to a life as a broken, impoverished, poor, war-ravaged statistic and found himself in a situation that would prove to be his “second chance” at life. Jean Claude was a child who became available for sponsorship through Compassion International, a ministry you probably have all heard of with the same values and goals as World Vision whom I mentioned above = to save and help the orphan.
Compassion International would be the face of a future for one boy, named Jean Claude. He was chosen for sponsorship by a man from America, so this man would send his monthly, quarterly, what-have-you donation and it would provide all the needs Jean Claude’s broken, impoverished family could not provide for him. Through the years Jean Claude was gifted the opportunity to attend school, heal from the loss of his family members, the loss of his innocent childhood that was stolen and most importantly given the capacity by a stranger’s kindness to allow the hope of Jesus Christ to grow inside this one boy’s heart so he may become all God had planned for his life SIMPLY from being a sponsored child. So now you can see WHY Jean Claude is becoming the man he’s becoming, you can see WHY he’s devoted his life to saving the orphans and street children, you can see how amazing this Best Family is, you can see WHY he clings to God with all his might, you can see WHY his life is changing the course of our world, you, yourself can see the handiwork of GOD with this one young man's life. Jean Claude was just a boy, whose story and picture stammering across the TV screen would’ve been too uncomfortable for me to embrace and let inside the safe guards around my heart, but because one man believed in causes such as Compassion International, one man has changed one boy’s entire life and the ripple effect from there is proving to be limitless! How perfect is God’s design! Jean Claude is an amazing human being and I aspire to live my life with such greatness and humility!
God chose to use Jean Claude’s life as a living example for a lesson I needed to learn in a physical way to break me free from my ignorance (that had quite a strong hold over me!). One life makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE so give or share whatever it is you feel compelled to give, it makes all the difference in the world, forget about the red tape that you grasp onto for justification that you “simply can not make a difference”, just share your portion no matter how big or small and God will do the rest. I truly feel God is teaching me this lesson about the importance of "one life" for many reasons to prepare me for a future that's possibly bigger than my 'reality' can encompass.
Our loving God knowing what a stubborn and (previously) judgmental fool I was to all these “sponsorship” type entities chose to teach me in a very visual and necessary way to shatter any possibility of my ignorance rekindling! But with this hands on lesson, came a greater burden on my heart and a greater call to ministry. God has chosen me to advocate and participate in “sponsoring” nearly 50 lives now that I’ve had the privilege of being welcomed into their Best Family! Talk about moving to the front of the bus! God just loves doing things in my life in “BIG” ways so that He can keep my OCD attention directly on NEEDING HIM to drive this bus!
I want to share with you the ways our gracious Lord continues to connect me to the Best Family so we can all enjoy a laugh at my introverted expense. Since returning home from Africa my heart was truly burning inside for the Best Family, seriously God was standing under me lighting match after match so that there was no way the flame could fizzle! Soon enough a relationship began to bloom between our family and Jean Claude via email as I came home fired up to share their story, I realized I was missing quite a bit of necessary information to truly encompass what a miracle the Best Family is so I sought out how to communicate with Jean Claude and before I knew what had happened the Lord was at work again above and beyond my comprehension. See, I thought I might share this story of my one experience, scrounge up a little money, send it off and carry on with my self indulged life….but God had different plans and they are proving to be much greater than mine ~ as ALWAYS! So this introvert found herself landing in front of a microphone time and again as the Lord was providing one open door after another for public speaking opportunities. All divinely perfect situations to share the amazing story of the Best Family, of course. Since I’ve fumbled my way through a few of these opportunities this past August I had been gifted random donations that totaled $100 and thus I Western Unioned that on over to the Best Family whereas they immediately moved me to a place of humbled tears over the depths of their gratitude. Jean Claude expressed beyond measure how this $100 would change so much for these underprivileged children, giving them an opportunity to have a Christmas. So in September another speaking opportunity arose and this time it was to American children, specifically my church Sunday school ~ toughest crowd EVER ~ so you can imagine my rookie speaking skills bombed miserably but I walked away from this valuable lesson challenging the kids from our Sunday School to be extraordinary in their faith for 2 weeks alongside Donny and I. Part of our challenge included raising $5 each during this 2 weeks and at the end we would match the money and send the donation over to the Best Family. Last week, I sent $320 ~ the second donation to the Best Family and I’m going to take the liberty to brag that I’m becoming very well acquainted with this Western Union diva that can not for the life of my sanity spell Jean Claude’s last name correctly until the 5th or 6th try!
So I’m extending this challenge and invitation to all of you as this past weekend's conference has stirred a cold heart to light another fire and just go for the glory. It’s no mystery that I’m on the sliding scale of “broke” by American standards, but with revamped values and reduced excess I’ve found a way to share what I have with those who have NOTHING and I’m learning my little is MORE THAN A LOT!! So to those other previous skeptics out there of donating to big-business organizations, let me tell you now I have the perfect solution for you ~ as grass roots as it can get my friends….the money literally leaves my hand at the Coborn’s Western Union desk and days later I receive a confirmation email from Jean Claude that makes me bawl for hours about how every penny has made it safe and sound directly to him and he shares specifically how each dime will impact every single Best Family child’s life! I LOVE IT! No red tape for this pessimist to worry about, just 50 beautiful children that haunt my dreams day & night, calling us Mum & Dud inspiring me to save every single PENNY I have so I can share my wealth for their survival. Until we get the logistics worked out on a donated laptop computer for the Best Family and the birth of a website to become more official in the status of donor relationships and visual accountability, I'm just throwing this out there for you all to grasp in raw format. If God burdens your heart like He has mine ~ be in touch with me and we can share our pennies together to make an even greater impact knowing beyond doubt EVERY SINGLE PENNY counts. I'm working out the logistics on how to provide tax-deductible receipts for donors who prefer that route, but for those of you who could care less because you can only give the equivalent of pocket change like myself ~ just shoot me an email and we'll go from there: mariatraut@gmail.com. When I say "share your portion" it doesn't limit you to financial donation, if you have connections, ideas and any other helpful tips or useful tactics to help the Best Family grow & flourish ~ truly share your portion with me and I'll see it through to delivery in Rwanda!
Before I close with some beautiful words from Jean Claude, I want to point out one other little tiny story as to how God has woven our two families together...the Minnesotan Traut gang and the Rwandan Best Family. There's not a doubt in my mind, God's larger plan was for us to become one in hearts and spirit as a family before inching this train along on an organized ministry level. Last night my 6 year old son Zach lost his tooth, and this morning when he awoke to a crisp dollar bill underneath his pillow from that wonderful tooth fairy, he came out of his room with a look of excitement and his eyes lit up with child like faith when he handed me the dollar and said "Here mom, I want to give this to the Best Family"...can you see how God is at work here? I almost wasn't strong enough to keep my composure, my heart nearly exploded. I wish we all could "give" like a child can "give".
I want to leave you with the recent email I have received from Jean Claude so you can know for yourselves just how God uses this amazing man to completely RUIN me and reduce me to a pile of tears time and again.
Hello my very very very very great friend!
Our Mum & DUD. On behalf of all children, I thank you so much, you always surprise us. I do't know what I may say or do for you about your very best heart, your goodness, your BIG love especially to us. But I'm praying my GOD to show me what to say and to do. But I'm increasing my Love to the Poor and to the Children because of you. You are my EXAMPLARY( in french : Exemplaire) Who is my example. Please the Children are loving you so much, after receiving the Photos from you and to hear how and what you are doing in your USA to help the Best Family. And they are so happy because their Life and their X-MAS Party will very fine because of the MONEY you sent before. Thanks so Much to those my loved Children in your church, They became the Best Family Members in AMERICA, please Tell them.
Maria, I don't know how to thank you but may GOD bless you and Donny and my brohers(Boston and Zacher) all your family, then your church too. GOD helps you to see, to find whatever you want, to go wherever you want. may GOD fullfil your Pockets and your Properties. I always pray for you and your family. My dear friend Maria BE BLESSED so much and stay with GOD. Know I always tell you every thing, situation and what occurs about Best Family every time I share with you. BYE!
Can you believe God chose us, He chose my small life to mean this much to His precious chosen gems half-way across our globe. The hope I found in the love of Christ that compelled me to go to Africa to share with the abandoned is truly being shared through God's huge outstretched arms back and forth across continents ~ many lives are being shaped and changed by this reciprocal embrace of hope. Most days I still can't believe this is real, and when I imagine how much these children believe in ME I can become overwhelmed with terror at the size of these big shoes, but that's the beauty ~ I don't have the power or ability to change these lives, nor fit in these shoes so I must depend solely on God to use my life and work through lil ole me, one clumsy step at a time. This is His plan unfolding before all of us. When God opens doors I find myself running through with a swollen heart to shout from the mountaintops about my beautiful Best Family. I'm going to end this post with a slide show of all our beautiful Best Family faces captured on "film" that remarkable day in July so check back soon as I'm having technical difficulties at the moment.
I don’t know how to do justice to a story I only *wish* I knew, but the assumed details that I do have are worthy in sharing to do some justice to my love and my family in Africa.
I finally found the words to formulate this final post on my beloved Best Family during the course of my past weekend. I was at another conference, spending some much needed time with my neglected girlfriends and how excited was I that our girly time together would be shared with Jesus too! So while I was at the Women of Faith conference I was consuming myself with looking for opportunities to “reach out” and pray for people instead of just truly soaking in the pleasurable company I had been gifted to share, you know me…I’m always multitasking and STARVING for a touch from God. To my surprise my full attention would be grasped beyond any possible distraction at this conference as I was blind-sided by something I didn’t expect to see. Something that found a way to strike a slightly buried chord in my heart to twang with joyful pain like an out of tune dusty, old guitar to an African beat. As the leaders of this conference announced their partner ministry and shared a video about the organization at work around the world named World Vision, I found myself sitting in my seat with my heart in my throat as images of beautiful African children danced across the jumbo screen! World Vision is a ministry that provides an opportunity for people to sponsor orphans and change their lives in a dramatic way (along with many other things). So they chose to present this opportunity by sharing a story of a sponsored child they reconnected with years into his adulthood. A young man from Rwanda, who against all odds is leading an amazing life and serving the Lord while changing the future for many and has been predicted to become Rwanda’s future president some day. I sat there as visions, memories, feelings and tears ravaged me inside, I wasn’t mentally or EMOTIONALLY prepared for this impromptu journey down memory lane! So I fought back the flood as my jaw dropped at the startling revelation of something very familiar;
As they spoke, I thought to myself... know this story, I too KNOW this story….but it belongs to another face, another name and another saved life. Although I don’t know a single detail to truly do justice to the story, I know this VERY STORY ~ just enough to bait my heart like a fishing line ~ just enough for my small mind & life to handle. This very life I had the pleasure of meeting while my feet were standing on the powdered red clay of Rwandan soil. A life that the Lord has intertwined with mine so intricately you’d have to be ignorant not to recognize there’s a bigger plan at work here. This is the life of Jean Claude, the “president” of the Best Family, who is truly a young man after God’s own heart! So this World Vision campaign sent me to a place far away as my physical body sat in the crowded Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN I found my spiritual self deep in the heart of Africa! In this moment, God finally provided the words and inspiration for me to share my 2nd half of the Best Family story. You see, I had been struggling on whether this post was "appropriate" and how I'd truly approach this dire and probably sensitive topic. I have been wondering how this very HUGE God of ours could entrust me....ME....with such a precious task.
I shared in my first post the specifics of my encounter in Rwanda and the logistics I knew about the Best Family sharing how the 4 lives of Jean Claude, Emmanuel, Salomon and David are miraculously changing and saving the lives of nearly 50 Rwandan orphans. I must tell you now, this story truly began years prior to this scene where I stumbled onto the stage to behold in awe the fruits of their tireless loving labor = the heavenly smiles of their Best Family children.
This is the story of one American man and a Rwandan boy that I imagine began somewhere in the mid to late 90's. A boy who lost nearly all his family to the genocide and by some glimpse of hope, managed to beat the odds of losing his own life and beat even more odds of succumbing to a life as a broken, impoverished, poor, war-ravaged statistic and found himself in a situation that would prove to be his “second chance” at life. Jean Claude was a child who became available for sponsorship through Compassion International, a ministry you probably have all heard of with the same values and goals as World Vision whom I mentioned above = to save and help the orphan.
Compassion International would be the face of a future for one boy, named Jean Claude. He was chosen for sponsorship by a man from America, so this man would send his monthly, quarterly, what-have-you donation and it would provide all the needs Jean Claude’s broken, impoverished family could not provide for him. Through the years Jean Claude was gifted the opportunity to attend school, heal from the loss of his family members, the loss of his innocent childhood that was stolen and most importantly given the capacity by a stranger’s kindness to allow the hope of Jesus Christ to grow inside this one boy’s heart so he may become all God had planned for his life SIMPLY from being a sponsored child. So now you can see WHY Jean Claude is becoming the man he’s becoming, you can see WHY he’s devoted his life to saving the orphans and street children, you can see how amazing this Best Family is, you can see WHY he clings to God with all his might, you can see WHY his life is changing the course of our world, you, yourself can see the handiwork of GOD with this one young man's life. Jean Claude was just a boy, whose story and picture stammering across the TV screen would’ve been too uncomfortable for me to embrace and let inside the safe guards around my heart, but because one man believed in causes such as Compassion International, one man has changed one boy’s entire life and the ripple effect from there is proving to be limitless! How perfect is God’s design! Jean Claude is an amazing human being and I aspire to live my life with such greatness and humility!
God chose to use Jean Claude’s life as a living example for a lesson I needed to learn in a physical way to break me free from my ignorance (that had quite a strong hold over me!). One life makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE so give or share whatever it is you feel compelled to give, it makes all the difference in the world, forget about the red tape that you grasp onto for justification that you “simply can not make a difference”, just share your portion no matter how big or small and God will do the rest. I truly feel God is teaching me this lesson about the importance of "one life" for many reasons to prepare me for a future that's possibly bigger than my 'reality' can encompass.
Our loving God knowing what a stubborn and (previously) judgmental fool I was to all these “sponsorship” type entities chose to teach me in a very visual and necessary way to shatter any possibility of my ignorance rekindling! But with this hands on lesson, came a greater burden on my heart and a greater call to ministry. God has chosen me to advocate and participate in “sponsoring” nearly 50 lives now that I’ve had the privilege of being welcomed into their Best Family! Talk about moving to the front of the bus! God just loves doing things in my life in “BIG” ways so that He can keep my OCD attention directly on NEEDING HIM to drive this bus!
I want to share with you the ways our gracious Lord continues to connect me to the Best Family so we can all enjoy a laugh at my introverted expense. Since returning home from Africa my heart was truly burning inside for the Best Family, seriously God was standing under me lighting match after match so that there was no way the flame could fizzle! Soon enough a relationship began to bloom between our family and Jean Claude via email as I came home fired up to share their story, I realized I was missing quite a bit of necessary information to truly encompass what a miracle the Best Family is so I sought out how to communicate with Jean Claude and before I knew what had happened the Lord was at work again above and beyond my comprehension. See, I thought I might share this story of my one experience, scrounge up a little money, send it off and carry on with my self indulged life….but God had different plans and they are proving to be much greater than mine ~ as ALWAYS! So this introvert found herself landing in front of a microphone time and again as the Lord was providing one open door after another for public speaking opportunities. All divinely perfect situations to share the amazing story of the Best Family, of course. Since I’ve fumbled my way through a few of these opportunities this past August I had been gifted random donations that totaled $100 and thus I Western Unioned that on over to the Best Family whereas they immediately moved me to a place of humbled tears over the depths of their gratitude. Jean Claude expressed beyond measure how this $100 would change so much for these underprivileged children, giving them an opportunity to have a Christmas. So in September another speaking opportunity arose and this time it was to American children, specifically my church Sunday school ~ toughest crowd EVER ~ so you can imagine my rookie speaking skills bombed miserably but I walked away from this valuable lesson challenging the kids from our Sunday School to be extraordinary in their faith for 2 weeks alongside Donny and I. Part of our challenge included raising $5 each during this 2 weeks and at the end we would match the money and send the donation over to the Best Family. Last week, I sent $320 ~ the second donation to the Best Family and I’m going to take the liberty to brag that I’m becoming very well acquainted with this Western Union diva that can not for the life of my sanity spell Jean Claude’s last name correctly until the 5th or 6th try!
So I’m extending this challenge and invitation to all of you as this past weekend's conference has stirred a cold heart to light another fire and just go for the glory. It’s no mystery that I’m on the sliding scale of “broke” by American standards, but with revamped values and reduced excess I’ve found a way to share what I have with those who have NOTHING and I’m learning my little is MORE THAN A LOT!! So to those other previous skeptics out there of donating to big-business organizations, let me tell you now I have the perfect solution for you ~ as grass roots as it can get my friends….the money literally leaves my hand at the Coborn’s Western Union desk and days later I receive a confirmation email from Jean Claude that makes me bawl for hours about how every penny has made it safe and sound directly to him and he shares specifically how each dime will impact every single Best Family child’s life! I LOVE IT! No red tape for this pessimist to worry about, just 50 beautiful children that haunt my dreams day & night, calling us Mum & Dud inspiring me to save every single PENNY I have so I can share my wealth for their survival. Until we get the logistics worked out on a donated laptop computer for the Best Family and the birth of a website to become more official in the status of donor relationships and visual accountability, I'm just throwing this out there for you all to grasp in raw format. If God burdens your heart like He has mine ~ be in touch with me and we can share our pennies together to make an even greater impact knowing beyond doubt EVERY SINGLE PENNY counts. I'm working out the logistics on how to provide tax-deductible receipts for donors who prefer that route, but for those of you who could care less because you can only give the equivalent of pocket change like myself ~ just shoot me an email and we'll go from there: mariatraut@gmail.com. When I say "share your portion" it doesn't limit you to financial donation, if you have connections, ideas and any other helpful tips or useful tactics to help the Best Family grow & flourish ~ truly share your portion with me and I'll see it through to delivery in Rwanda!
Before I close with some beautiful words from Jean Claude, I want to point out one other little tiny story as to how God has woven our two families together...the Minnesotan Traut gang and the Rwandan Best Family. There's not a doubt in my mind, God's larger plan was for us to become one in hearts and spirit as a family before inching this train along on an organized ministry level. Last night my 6 year old son Zach lost his tooth, and this morning when he awoke to a crisp dollar bill underneath his pillow from that wonderful tooth fairy, he came out of his room with a look of excitement and his eyes lit up with child like faith when he handed me the dollar and said "Here mom, I want to give this to the Best Family"...can you see how God is at work here? I almost wasn't strong enough to keep my composure, my heart nearly exploded. I wish we all could "give" like a child can "give".
I want to leave you with the recent email I have received from Jean Claude so you can know for yourselves just how God uses this amazing man to completely RUIN me and reduce me to a pile of tears time and again.
Hello my very very very very great friend!
Our Mum & DUD. On behalf of all children, I thank you so much, you always surprise us. I do't know what I may say or do for you about your very best heart, your goodness, your BIG love especially to us. But I'm praying my GOD to show me what to say and to do. But I'm increasing my Love to the Poor and to the Children because of you. You are my EXAMPLARY( in french : Exemplaire) Who is my example. Please the Children are loving you so much, after receiving the Photos from you and to hear how and what you are doing in your USA to help the Best Family. And they are so happy because their Life and their X-MAS Party will very fine because of the MONEY you sent before. Thanks so Much to those my loved Children in your church, They became the Best Family Members in AMERICA, please Tell them.
Maria, I don't know how to thank you but may GOD bless you and Donny and my brohers(Boston and Zacher) all your family, then your church too. GOD helps you to see, to find whatever you want, to go wherever you want. may GOD fullfil your Pockets and your Properties. I always pray for you and your family. My dear friend Maria BE BLESSED so much and stay with GOD. Know I always tell you every thing, situation and what occurs about Best Family every time I share with you. BYE!
Can you believe God chose us, He chose my small life to mean this much to His precious chosen gems half-way across our globe. The hope I found in the love of Christ that compelled me to go to Africa to share with the abandoned is truly being shared through God's huge outstretched arms back and forth across continents ~ many lives are being shaped and changed by this reciprocal embrace of hope. Most days I still can't believe this is real, and when I imagine how much these children believe in ME I can become overwhelmed with terror at the size of these big shoes, but that's the beauty ~ I don't have the power or ability to change these lives, nor fit in these shoes so I must depend solely on God to use my life and work through lil ole me, one clumsy step at a time. This is His plan unfolding before all of us. When God opens doors I find myself running through with a swollen heart to shout from the mountaintops about my beautiful Best Family. I'm going to end this post with a slide show of all our beautiful Best Family faces captured on "film" that remarkable day in July so check back soon as I'm having technical difficulties at the moment.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Oh how He loves us!
I promise, I'll get back to the missionary stories soon...I TRULY promise! I just HAVE TO SHARE this now. I had an absolutely indescribable past few days with our powerful, magnificent, mighty, love ya till it hurts-so-good God!! I attended an amazing conference where God completely wrecked me all over again ~ which I love! I came home seeking out some particular songs that touched me deeply. Today I found the one song that destroyed me, but attached to this song came a visual message through cardboard signs showing me and you just how God loves us all! And so as always, I have to share!
I could share a million cardboard testimonies, but today I'll share the one that's most important to me.
I could share a million cardboard testimonies, but today I'll share the one that's most important to me.
***************
Sing with me, cry with me, feel with me, learn with me, love Him with me...
....share your "cardboard testimony", leave a comment and share how He loves you!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Time Out!
Okay, before I get to the 2nd post about my beloved Best Family I have to pause this blog YET AGAIN on my missionary heart and share with you a speech that stopped me dead in my tracks today and left me silently astounded by what an amazing gift of life this woman is! I'm not posting this in hopes to spark debate or even show boat my own opinions, because quite honestly I've been in a phase of "refiling" a lot of my dusty old file folders that contain the catalogs of my values, opinions, ideas, morals and dreams and until the cleaning out phase is through, I just soak in whatever the Good Lord has for me so that I can learn to live this life as He intended, dust off every old, overlooked file and place it where He perfectly designed it to be stored.
Well, my stance on this issue was one of those that never made it to the front of the filing cabinet for many years, never passed the judge & jury of my heart nor my brain...until the day I learned my very own sweet baby Boston was destined for this appointment of doom once upon a time.
Then today I received confirmation in my heart as to where I need to file this folder when God led me to this video and opened my eyes for the first time to TRULY see this "issue" as He sees it, and I cried from deep heartache.
So I do as I always do when God inspires me....I share it with all 2 of you who might still read this blog!
Well, my stance on this issue was one of those that never made it to the front of the filing cabinet for many years, never passed the judge & jury of my heart nor my brain...until the day I learned my very own sweet baby Boston was destined for this appointment of doom once upon a time.
Then today I received confirmation in my heart as to where I need to file this folder when God led me to this video and opened my eyes for the first time to TRULY see this "issue" as He sees it, and I cried from deep heartache.
So I do as I always do when God inspires me....I share it with all 2 of you who might still read this blog!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Let me "officially" introduce...
The Best Family
It was a sunny afternoon as we arrived at an empty school yard, a place that we were gathering to meet some orphans, and that is all the knowledge I held on this divine appointment. So I walked into this deserted, dusty, dirt school yard looking around for children, and I didn’t see many little faces, just a couple of kids greeted us and soon more would trickle in from here & there and I had not the slightest clue as to the experience I was about to have and how this was a defining moment in my purpose in this life: [Envision the cliché image of two paths in the woods. You know the one where it says “I chose the path less traveled and that has made all the difference” well, in my case it reads more like “God picked me up and set me down on the path less travelled and said; Maria, trust me, this path will make a difference”]….and here I was in Kigali, Rwanda totally oblivious that this was a superior life defining moment that was occurring in my journey. I just thought I was showing up to love on some more precious children and all the while I had Mr. Dimples in the back of my mind and I kept assuring myself not to “fall in love again” like the last place!
So we were introduced to a young man named Jean Claude and he began to humbly enlighten us about one of God’s secretly undiscovered diamond’s known as his “organization” named The Best Family. As many children had gathered by this time (news spreads quickly throughout the neighborhoods when albino’s like ourselves show up) we gathered inside one school room intermingled amongst some of the most beautiful children, all settling in to embrace a powerful touch by the hand of God.
I remember as I sat on the wooden bench next to one of the most painfully shy and simultaneously striking little girl my eyes have ever beheld(pictured above ~ yes, more dimples), I of course DID fall in love all over again. Something else occurred in this moment that I could not deny, I immediately sensed the Holy Spirit. This was not like my previous encounters or “urgings” from the Spirit to react to a situation (such as the man I prayed for in Ethiopia), this was a physical presence that I not only felt inside but outside, this energy filled the entire room and the only way I can describe it is to say that it felt like God’s immense joy. The spiritual reaction in my soul could only define this moment as if it were to be comparable to witnessing God’s own smile with my very two eyes. Can you IMAGINE! There was an intensity that I can not describe coursing through my veins, dancing in my soul and skipping beats inside my heart. I remember as I listened to Nyanja, Samuel and Jean Claude…(oh yes, we soon learned that our very own Samuel plays a vital role in the Best Family!)
I literally looked around the room for a physical manifestation of God’s presence, the feelings inside me were so extreme that I thought my eyes might witness a miracle. A momentary thought occurred to me as I was seeking a sign of God in our physical realm…The faces I am seeing, the eyes that meet mine, the hands that I am holding; they are the physical manifestation of God’s presence! I didn’t need to see a miracle from God, I was looking right in the face of nearly 50 of His miracles. I knew in an instant I was among greatness in this moment, inside this dusty school room, packed into tiny wooden benches, with old wooden windows propped open to let the Lord’s light shine in. Something deep and powerful told me every one of these lives I was sharing were to be revolutionary in changing the future. God had gifted me the opportunity to stand beside him in his studio, hold his paint brush, share in his visionary masterpiece and possibly blend some brush strokes with my own life onto His Rwandan canvas contributing to the work of art He has planned for every child’s life in that room. Let me confirm to you, the 13 of us on this independent mission trip to Africa found themselves sitting in this classroom, immersed in God’s very own "Best Family" not by coincidence, BUT, by absolute, flawless, purposeful, heavenly design. I knew that from the moment my backside hit the bench, long before I knew any details of this phenomenal ministry and I can confirm it beyond doubt with the occurrences in my life since I’ve returned home. God and I both are hanging on tightly to Rwanda, for dear life, as we both know that is where a huge piece of our soul’s live.
It was a sunny afternoon as we arrived at an empty school yard, a place that we were gathering to meet some orphans, and that is all the knowledge I held on this divine appointment. So I walked into this deserted, dusty, dirt school yard looking around for children, and I didn’t see many little faces, just a couple of kids greeted us and soon more would trickle in from here & there and I had not the slightest clue as to the experience I was about to have and how this was a defining moment in my purpose in this life: [Envision the cliché image of two paths in the woods. You know the one where it says “I chose the path less traveled and that has made all the difference” well, in my case it reads more like “God picked me up and set me down on the path less travelled and said; Maria, trust me, this path will make a difference”]….and here I was in Kigali, Rwanda totally oblivious that this was a superior life defining moment that was occurring in my journey. I just thought I was showing up to love on some more precious children and all the while I had Mr. Dimples in the back of my mind and I kept assuring myself not to “fall in love again” like the last place!
So we were introduced to a young man named Jean Claude and he began to humbly enlighten us about one of God’s secretly undiscovered diamond’s known as his “organization” named The Best Family. As many children had gathered by this time (news spreads quickly throughout the neighborhoods when albino’s like ourselves show up) we gathered inside one school room intermingled amongst some of the most beautiful children, all settling in to embrace a powerful touch by the hand of God.
I remember as I sat on the wooden bench next to one of the most painfully shy and simultaneously striking little girl my eyes have ever beheld(pictured above ~ yes, more dimples), I of course DID fall in love all over again. Something else occurred in this moment that I could not deny, I immediately sensed the Holy Spirit. This was not like my previous encounters or “urgings” from the Spirit to react to a situation (such as the man I prayed for in Ethiopia), this was a physical presence that I not only felt inside but outside, this energy filled the entire room and the only way I can describe it is to say that it felt like God’s immense joy. The spiritual reaction in my soul could only define this moment as if it were to be comparable to witnessing God’s own smile with my very two eyes. Can you IMAGINE! There was an intensity that I can not describe coursing through my veins, dancing in my soul and skipping beats inside my heart. I remember as I listened to Nyanja, Samuel and Jean Claude…(oh yes, we soon learned that our very own Samuel plays a vital role in the Best Family!)
I literally looked around the room for a physical manifestation of God’s presence, the feelings inside me were so extreme that I thought my eyes might witness a miracle. A momentary thought occurred to me as I was seeking a sign of God in our physical realm…The faces I am seeing, the eyes that meet mine, the hands that I am holding; they are the physical manifestation of God’s presence! I didn’t need to see a miracle from God, I was looking right in the face of nearly 50 of His miracles. I knew in an instant I was among greatness in this moment, inside this dusty school room, packed into tiny wooden benches, with old wooden windows propped open to let the Lord’s light shine in. Something deep and powerful told me every one of these lives I was sharing were to be revolutionary in changing the future. God had gifted me the opportunity to stand beside him in his studio, hold his paint brush, share in his visionary masterpiece and possibly blend some brush strokes with my own life onto His Rwandan canvas contributing to the work of art He has planned for every child’s life in that room. Let me confirm to you, the 13 of us on this independent mission trip to Africa found themselves sitting in this classroom, immersed in God’s very own "Best Family" not by coincidence, BUT, by absolute, flawless, purposeful, heavenly design. I knew that from the moment my backside hit the bench, long before I knew any details of this phenomenal ministry and I can confirm it beyond doubt with the occurrences in my life since I’ve returned home. God and I both are hanging on tightly to Rwanda, for dear life, as we both know that is where a huge piece of our soul’s live.
Have you ever had that moment where you felt so content and perfectly at peace in a situation that you felt like it was an imaginary moment, too good to be true? That is what I felt inside this classroom as I was sitting next to that young girl pictured above, listening to her struggle for the right English words to piece together a broken sentence sharing with me her heart’s deepest desire would be to learn to play guitar “some day”. This is where I grabbed onto God’s graciously extended hand and gladly leaped onto that “path less traveled” with eagerness and knew with every fiber of my being…this is why God created me….and assuredly as He promised [us all], if I stay on {this path}
So while sitting in this classroom what did I learn, who is this amazing “Best Family” I speak of? Well, it’s my honor to have the privilege to share with you right now the history and purpose of this ministry started by four absolutely remarkable genocide survivors. Jean Claude, Emmanuel, Salomon and David (now 23yrs of age) started this ministry when they were poor, broken, abandoned, young teen boys who were left with nothing but their hope. The survival of Hell’s fiery grasp on their country for 100 days of gruesome death changed these boys at a core level as young children and as the four of them grew older together they vowed to one another to never let others suffer like they have known suffering; This was God's defining moments of birth for what would become a new family built by His own hand. Soon they began to recognize many other children who were suffering as the impoverished result of a war stricken country, living as orphans (genocide or AIDS related) and street children, they began to take in other children into their “family” and along with this provide all the care necessary for each and every one of them. By the work of their 4 dedicated lives they began to take in more & more children advocating for them in every aspect imaginable; housing, food, clothing, education, medical needs and most importantly in their eyes, faith and Godly mentorship. By 2004 Jean Claude had a strong calling to become a legal representative(at 19yrs old!) and use his life to advocate for all these children he had become responsible for…thus the Best Family Association was formed in legal fashion under Rwandan law with Jean Claude as president and his 3 closest “founding members” and best friends as his supporting (volunteer) staff. For seven years these 4 extraordinary young men have been surviving all on their own by the grace of God as the responsible caretakers of 50 children ranging in age from 3yrs to 21yrs. The little 3 year old orphan is so precious I could carry him in my pocket for the rest of my life, see for yourself:
As God allows, Jean Claude and his 3 friends provide for these children and it still amazes me to this day how they find ways to make “ends meet” and not leave any of these children homeless and hungry. For years they have been operating in this manner and then God stepped in and open a door, that’s where the 13 of us Americans walked in, and for the first time in the 7 years of their existence the Best Family was introduced to “outsiders” and their ministry was recognized and even more importantly their NEEDS for survival and growth have been made known to someone other than the child members of this family. Someone in a position to possibly have easy access to life-giving tools that could forever change the course of 50+ lives. Someone whose change from their pockets could make all the difference. Do you have any idea how it feels to recognize your standing in the shoes of that very “someone”?! It’s terrifyingly humbling and awe inspiring that much I can say.
Jean Claude’s latest email sharing the entire history of the birth of the Best Family has enlightened me in many ways and stolen my heart above and beyond my original first hand experience. Barely knowing any specifics about the Best Family, one desire remained true through all the days since I’ve had the pleasure of meeting them; God has a purpose in my life to use me in some way to help the Best Family and by God’s will I may be so lucky to call myself and extended member of this family one day. I have never met so many children who are beautiful beyond description. Their faith is astonishingly PURE and I long to abandon myself in the Lord’s arms like they so easily do. God is using these young lives to teach me how to be the Christian He dreams we all would be, showing me with human lives what FAITH looks like. These children are holding the almighty jackpot my friends; God is their most prize possession and they’ve learned far beyond anything else He is all they truly need. It’s obvious in the light that shines through their eyes, the smile that bursts from their faces, the energy and life in their prayers, the joy in their voices at the mention of His name…it’s so obvious not even I could miss it.
As we sat in that classroom learning all about these amazing men and the precious lives they have saved and gently polished into shining gems, I struggled to understand what was unfolding in our vastly different lives, from separate continents yearning to mold our futures together and wondering how on earth to do so. It wouldn’t be long for a clarifying moment to present itself for me. When it came to the point in the “meeting” where we asked the kids if they had any questions for us after patiently sitting for over an hour, one little boy shared that it was his dream to go to school so he could grow up to help people just like The Best Family has helped him. Nope, he doesn’t want to be a professional athlete, a rockstar, a millionaire or some other typical American dream…he wants to save the orphan, he wants to give his life back to those who are just like him. What a gift it was for my ears to hear his shy little voice spout with honor he has dreams of this magnitude. Seconds later another amazing little 8-9yr old boy stood up and asked us the question of a lifetime “When you go home to America, will you remember us? Will you still help us?” It was as if my heart stopped beating as the last sound rolled off his precious tiny tongue. It took all my might to fight back the tears. I wanted to shout “of course we will” but how could I promise that without knowing truly if I would be accountable. It was as though God was sharing with us the importance of His plan through the mouth of a tiny child who couldn't possibly understand the power in those words he just spoke. God had brought us this far, showed us a private viewing of His canvas, which undoubtedly has some of the most beautiful images I’ve ever seen painted in glorious colors, now it's our turn to hold the paint brush, just as if God was standing there handing me the brush staring into the depths of my eyes = will YOU remember how to make a lasting brush stroke? Will we continue on with God's plan? Someone in our group responded with the question “What do you want or need us to do? How can we help?” and their answer blew me away, they didn’t ask for supplies, food, money, clothes, not one tangible item…they said: “just don’t forget us, tell people about us and share our dreams”….I wished they knew how there was no way on this earth I could ever fathom forgetting them!!
It has been my greatest pleasure since the day I’ve returned to Minnesota to share my life altering experience with an organization that says all it needs to simply by it’s title “The Best Family”. At the very least, I will continue to share their story and their dream because on that day God planted a seed in my soul and made it my dream too for these children to have a hope and a future. I long desperately to be a member of The Best Family and I hope I can find others who want to join this family too. I came home from Rwanda committed to living out my word to these children who have inspired me, changed me, enriched my life beyond measure. It’s the least I can do to help them grow in any way possible! It was God’s plan for us, in Rwanda, to come home gloriously ruined by The Best Family.
So for now, I’ll sign off with the very last words I have received from Jean Claude as he emailed the members of our team last night:
“Let us love each other as JESUS loved us”
God truly speaks to me through the beautiful broken English of Rwandan fingers and as always Jean Claude teaches me as he shares scripture that is on his heart. Every time the perfect verses inspire me to the point of tears, thank you God for enriching my life and filling my cup to overflowing through the grace of sharing with me your precious Best Family.
“The Blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.” Proverbs 10:22 (courtesy of Jean Claude)
This is simply my introduction to the Best Family…to justly encompass this experience I’ll need a few posts to capture and savor every single second. After I share all that took place while in Rwanda, I will share all that has taken place since I’ve been home and let you all see the beauty of God’s masterpiece as it’s being painted one brush stroke at a time by many aspiring artists.
Perfect Timing!
The inspiration to blog about my next adventure in Rwanda, a day that has changed the course of my life every hour since, is rapidly rising inside my soul and ready to bubble over like a boiling kettle on gramma's stovetop. Yesterday I was just enthused beyond description and deeply feeling the soul ties I have to Rwanda. I thought once I arrived home from work I'd find time to sit down at the computer and lose myself deep into the passionate heavenly beats of my heart I call "The Best Family" but minute after minute escaped me and soon my night was long gone and there was no time. FINALLY the excitement has returned the moment has arrived for me to reconnect the bond that felt so distant weeks ago. It's come in full force and when I arrived to my email inbox this morning, I seen the missing pieces of this puzzle that I so desperately needed to truly advocate for my dearest Best Family was here, awaiting me kindly from Jean Claude like a divinely wrapped gift sent in God's perfect timing straight to my inbox. Now I know without doubt why I didn't find that spare minute last night or any day the past 2-3 weeks to begin this blog post ~ it was premature and now I say with honor...the time has come for me to reveal an amazing gem coming from the streets of Rwanda, like no other story I have had the privilege of hearing, seeing or dare to imagine be present to share living in. It's a God kind of story that no matter where you stand in your faith journey, God will touch you through these lives I'm about to reveal and share ~ for these children and young men are what legends are made of and God uses lives such as theirs because humility and blind faith are their greatest virtues! He uses the weak to make Him strong!
So today I begin my long, long, long over-do quest of capturing the nail biting, heart palpitating, tear jerking, soul quaking experience I had inside an empty school room with God's magnificent few. The very lives that have redefined my values, my purpose and my dreams in this short time I have here on earth. The very lives that God has knitted into my heart's purpose for beating. The very lives that I have been overwhelmed, undereducated and blindly fumbling along sharing their story, opening doors and hearts along the way as God has graciously designed to use me and my idiosyncrasies to try and move mountains on their behalf!
TODAY!!! I dance like a child in the aisles of Toys R Us for the moment has finally arrived and it tickles my soul with delight! TODAY! ~ I begin to document this as justly as possible with my meager words and see where God leads us all from there! Did ya hear me ~ I said TODAY'S THE DAY!!
Stay tuned...it most likely with be a very, very long post so I will be back with all the amazing details once I've confined them to words, sentences & paragraphs!
So today I begin my long, long, long over-do quest of capturing the nail biting, heart palpitating, tear jerking, soul quaking experience I had inside an empty school room with God's magnificent few. The very lives that have redefined my values, my purpose and my dreams in this short time I have here on earth. The very lives that God has knitted into my heart's purpose for beating. The very lives that I have been overwhelmed, undereducated and blindly fumbling along sharing their story, opening doors and hearts along the way as God has graciously designed to use me and my idiosyncrasies to try and move mountains on their behalf!
TODAY!!! I dance like a child in the aisles of Toys R Us for the moment has finally arrived and it tickles my soul with delight! TODAY! ~ I begin to document this as justly as possible with my meager words and see where God leads us all from there! Did ya hear me ~ I said TODAY'S THE DAY!!
Stay tuned...it most likely with be a very, very long post so I will be back with all the amazing details once I've confined them to words, sentences & paragraphs!
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