So, my name isn't Ordinary and I don't live in the Land of Familiar, but I have been given a dream by the Dream-Giver. I want to use this blog that you may share in this Faith Journey and maybe I can find some help and encouragement along the way. :)
Since the Summer of 2007 I have been serving and sharing Christ's love with the lost and broken people of foreign nations... but since at least then I have been praying that God would grant me that same heart for the people around me, for the very faces I see everyday. It was difficult coming to that realization that the same person spending money on things they didn't need; the same person that talked badly against my friends at school; someone that I felt had opportunity to turn and pursue God... was the same person who needed to be told, to be helped, to be loved.
My heart wasn't fully broken for the people of my own nation (a nation that is in true turmoil) the start of the 2009 Summer during Glorieta. During a service one night, God had set an unrest in me, I had to sit down during worship and write- I kept writing until the sermon started but after I went and looked over my notes and they were of a plan that God wanted to complete through me.
I have to be honest I tried to fulfill some of that plan and dream myself but when I couldn't raise support from those around me and found that I was trying to "take on the world" I became frightened and gave up.
Until this past Summer of 2010- While I was in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay- God captured my heart again for His people
Whoever they maybe! He has specifically burdened my heart for the poor...
As of late, I have been trying to figure out what God has planned for me, and I still don't have it all figured out -I don't pretend to-
but He has revealed that He gave me a heart for BOTH my home and foreign land. Not to choose one or the other. Not to live life from Summer to Summer. So, here am I... back in the United States knowing I have been called up for such a time as this. Not 4 or 5 years down the road after college.
My dream?
A place for children in low-income families to come after school. I want to them to have a safe place to get away from maybe dangerous situations at home or even from the street. I want to offer them help with school work, to offer them a better chance to succeed. I want to give them a place to play, to have safe fun. I feel a burden to relieve theirs...
This "organization" will be called 'Spark' I can't think of a more fitting name
Spark -noun- anything that activates or stimulates; inspiration or catalyst. or a trace of life or vitality.
-verb- to kindle, animate, or stimulate (interest, activity, spirit, etc.)
What better way to bring life to a dying world?
Another hope I have would be to open a separate place for the homeless. A place where not only can they find a safe place to sleep off of the streets, warmth for the Winter and shade in the Summer or even a place for them to be able to eat... but a place where they might find help, and even hope themselves. According to homelessness statistics, around twenty percent of the homeless population in America is into drugs and alcohol. The statistics on homelessness in United states, also show that twenty five percent of the people who live on the streets suffer from a mental illness. Since they are unable to afford the medical costs, they remain inflicted with these conditions and continue to remain homeless.
I, mainly, wish to focus on the substance abuse issue for the time being (but for either condition, really) I would like to offer them counseling, support, and one day hopefully a church family.
This organization would be called "Phoenix Ministries".
Phoenix -noun- "a mythical bird of great beauty fabled to live 500 or 600 years in the Arabian wilderness, to burn itself on a funeral pyre, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of youth and live through another cycle of years: often an emblem of immortality or of reborn idealism or hope." and a person or thing that has become renewed or restored after suffering calamity or apparent annihilation.
To many my dream may seem unattainable, but God is my dream-giver and in Mark 9:23 Jesus said "Everything is possible for him who believes."
I end this note with the words of that dying boy's father- to Our Heavenly Father "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
I know this is long, and I thank you for taking the time of reading it and beginning this faith journey with me.
