Meet Wilma.  Wilma wants to meet you.  For just half your cable bill a month, this young lady can be a member of your family.  Can you change her life today? To sponsor her, click here, or the image below.

Personal and Family Information:
Wilma lives with her father and her mother. Her father is sometimes employed and her mother maintains the home. Wilma works at home cleaning. There are 6 children in the family.

Wilma is not presently attending school. Playing with dolls is her favorite activity. She also attends church activities regularly.

Please remember Wilma in your prayers. Your love and support will help her to receive the assistance she needs to grow and develop.

My prayer has been simple.

Lord,  Remove my pain.  Take away the hurt.  Fix my past.

I’m starting to realize that my past is what makes me me.  The pain, the hurt, the drama, the crazy, it all happened.  There is no undoing it.  There is no ‘fixing it’.  I think, as  I work through this junk, everything I hear and read is pointing me towards realizing that God won’t fix this.  He will use it, transform it, make it a tool, but he will not fix it.

What does that mean for me?  Well, it means that I have to always focus on my spirituality.  I have to grow spiritually, so my past can be transformed into a tool Jesus can use.  I need to make, as Dan Garrett said yesterday in church, my actions match my beliefs.  I have to ask for help, because I cannot do this alone.  I’ve tried for too long.

The fact is we all have muck.  We all have things we wish didn’t happen, or we feel made us have that complex.  The fact is, I’ve bought in to this worldly phrase, “Time heals all wounds.”  Not  true.  Jesus can take care of it, but I have to get my head right.  I have to get my heart right.  I have to get my spirituality right.  I have to work through the muck.

I feel like I’m well on my way, but I’ve become aware that this is not a 1 week fix.  It’s not something I work at for a couple of days, and voila, everything is better.  That’s just not how it works!  This is more than a quick fix, a brief prayer, or admitting my issues.

This is a life style change.  This is discipline.  This is growing of spiritual health.  This is finding Jesus, and loving him like his disciples did.  Being in Jesus, so much that my worldly tendencies are defeated.  I need to focus on the present, plan for the future, but not ignore the past.  I need to walk the walk.

1 John 2:3-6
³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. ⁴The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love^[a] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Jesus asks us to take up our own Cross daily.

[23] Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. [24] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. [25] What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

That’s scary.  Every day, I need to deny myself and take up my cross? That’s not pleasant at all.  I have to deny my urge to drink, to be angry, to lust, to…. well, do anything besides give glory to God!  That’s a tall order!  How on earth can each man take up his own cross?

I think about Jesus carrying His cross.  I think about people shouting at him, spitting on him, hitting him.  Humiliated, bleeding, hurt, He drags His cross as far as He possibly can.  This is where things get interesting.  Jesus couldn’t go any farther.  He could not go forward.  Jesus did not ask anyone for help.  No one offered.  That’s where Simon comes in.  He didn’t come running to help either.  It wasn’t a sign of mercy or compassion.  He was ordered to do so.  He was ordered to help Jesus Christ carry his cross.

Why do I say all of that?  I guess my point is, there will come a point in my life where I absolutely, cannot lift up my cross.  I am going to need a ‘Simon’.  I think we all are.  Regardless of if Simon offered the help, or if Jesus asked for the help, because honestly, I don’t have those answers.  I do think this offers a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is like. Where a man will bear the cross for another.

Who are my Simons?  I think it’s pretty clear that if Jesus couldn’t bear His cross, (Physically) then there is no way on Earth any of us will be able to bear ours.  Who do I have in my life to help me bear mine?  Who can I help bear theirs?

Today is Global Food Crisis day.  That’s sad that we even need a day like that.  I’m sure there are a hundred people blogging about it today, but I think there’s room for 100 more.

The food crisis has been ignored because so many more things are making the airwaves of our news. (like what kind of dog the Obama’s are getting…)  People are calling it things like the silent tsunami, because its affecting more and more people every day.  It’s predicted that the current food crisis is the worst we’ve ever seen in the history of our world.  wow.

Shaun Groves from Compassion International wrote this.

The cost of food staples have roughly doubled in many countries where Compassion serves. Some of the original factors that turned this trend into a world calamity recently include unstable oil prices, increased meat consumption in countries like India and China, droughts in major crop-producing countries, and increased production of biofuels.

So.  What can we do to help?  There are a few things we can do.  Obviously continue to support children around the world through the Compassion program, here.  To give directly to the food crisis fund, click here.

You might be saying, “The economy is bad, and I just can’t afford to give anything extra, is there anything else I can do?”  YES.  If you are a blogger, myspacer, facebooker, or whatever other social networking tool you use, you can spread the word.  Give these links.  You can even add a sidebar.

Ladies and Gents.  I don’t need to go in to how hungry people are these days.  You don’t have to cross a border to see it.  Odds are good, you see it daily.  What little bit we can give, helps.  Anything you can do to spread awareness, and let people know how they can help, helps.  So, do everyone a favor, and blog about this day.  Post links, click links, even give a couple of bucks.

Let’s make a difference.

Hi guys.  Today, I am logging on for one reason.  My Future family is hurting.  We absolutely need your prayers.  We are weak, and confused.  I might not be around for a few days, but please, if you have a prayer list at your church, or a circle of close friends you pray with, please lift this family up to the Lord.  Pray for miracles, God’s will, and strength.  To know more about what is going on, please go over to Andrea’s Blog and check it out.  I don’t feel right typing it all out right now.

Thank you guys!  So So Much.