Pumped To Lay It Down

I had the privilege of attending CAFO  for a second time. 

Christian Alliance For Orphans.

IT WAS SO GOOD!

I felt encouraged and humbled and blessed and encouraged and humbled and blessed and over and over again.

The theme seemed to be remembering that we are made from dust and God has put us together and breathed His life into us; He is amazing and He has invited us into His work to bring glory to Him and Him alone. 

What a privilege and honor and what amazing and challenging work He has invited us into.

We were surrounded for 2 days with thousands of people that are living this out in a beautiful way.  There is a lot of brokenness and restoration represented in this kind of conference.

 People are at the end of themselves,
 and yet so full of light and love.

God's heart is for the orphan, and there is no better way in my mind, to get close to  the heart of God than to care for the orphan. 

 It will rip your heart out of your chest and then God will do His thing and repair and reconcile hearts with His love.

He will do a work in all the hearts that bring their brokenness to Him for love and repair.

God is after our hearts and our kids' hearts,

 He is interested in lovers, not performers.

He is too good and too kind to settle for anything less than total

surrender.

The beauty of orphans and orphan loving people is that is very clear that there is need of help and healing, and so it doesn't take long to get painfully honest.  This is a gift.  We all need to get to this place one way or another, because we all need Jesus to help and heal us, so the sooner the better.

I was reminded how disgusting our pride is and how amazing our God is. 

 In mission work of any kind we can start to think we have done something wonderful, when the truth of the matter is, our Father is so wonderful  and He invites us into His wonder and we get to enjoy a piece in the redemptive story. 

Many times the mission we are on, and the God we serve get switched around, 

we begin to worship

 ministry - family - work 

 because we once loved God; 

instead of doing all these very important things because we worship God and 

LOVE

 Him first and most and forever.

Revelation 2:2-5New Living Translation (NLT)

2 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3 You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

One of the worst mistake we can make is to elevate anything we do, even good things, above our faithful Father who has given us life and breath.

We are so drawn to results and work that can be seen at the end of the day, and accomplishments that we can measure and share.  God is so much bigger and better than anything we can measure or accomplish. 

 I was reminded once again of how easy it is to GO and do and leave God in the dust, instead of remembering that I am made of dust, and He, in all His grace and mercy has allowed me to GO and do anything.

I've been tired and a bit overwhelmed in this season of my life.

 My parents have moved away, my big kids have moved away, and it's mostly me and my hard working man and our 6 non-driving, teen and young, very active, involved kids. 

 It's nothing compared to what so many are doing, but for a bit I was feeling pretty tired and lonely.  

All I had to do this weekend was look around and it humbled me.  

I quit looking at myself and began to turn to Jesus (this is repentance) and remember who is in charge, who is my strength, and who my faithful Father, who my provider is, and I'm ready to

 GO. 

Pumped up to lay flat on my face and be amazed that God allows me to be a part of 

His-Story 

with my life.

These peeps need me to remember and remind us that God holds us together and breathes HIS life into us;

instead of trying to hold it all together for us,

 in my flailing panicked hyperventilating routine.