Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Entry from September 9/20/07

Today was the toughest day yet. Today we went to visit and pray with the sick children at the government hospital.
We first went to the babies room. Fortunately all their mothers were there caring for them, but many had been there for months. Many of them have pneumonia and both mothers and children were fatigued by the long hospital visit. I felt God pulling on my to pray with them and talk with them. This was really pushing me out of my shell. I tried not to at first, but couldn't ignore the responsibility. I prayed for four babies and their moms by myself. I'm glad I could do this small thing for them.
Then this hospital visit got exponentially harder as we went down to the very last room- the abandoned baby room. One baby was only seven days old and was found in a dumpster! Another had been there fore a month or so. (She was so chubby and cute! :) )
There were two boys in cribs who seemed somewhat mentally disabled. This one boy was so happy for attention. He kept giving me thumbs up, high-fives, and he always smiled. His smile was so beautiful, regardless of the fact that almost all his teeth were rotten. He also had very crooked pinkies. I kept giving him stickers and he kept on smiling.
There were also three other boys in the room. (I wish I could describe for you this place. It is certainly not the children's wing in a U.S. hospital. Picture a movie with a scene from a mid-centruy mental institute, from the bland, dreary atmosphere, blank walls, white metal bed posts, and scratchy gray blankets complete with holes.) The one in the middle bed was slightly shy but responded to the stickers. I gave him high-fives and tickled him. He laughed and it was fun. Mary translated for me and we found out from him that his stomach hurt. He said he lived with his dad, but his dad wasn't there. He thought his father would come tomorrow, but at the discussion of this the boy started to cry. Mary told him that Jesus would be with him. He started to cry more... MY HEART BROKE COMPLETELY NOW... I wanted to cry so bad with him. To pick him up from his scratchy-gray-institute-blankets and hold him... but God actually helped me hold it together. I was so thankful that I was was able to get him to smile again by being silly. I gave him and his neighbor sheets of stickers and we left. The hardest part was leaving. Leaving and knowing that they'd been left before, knowing that there really wasn't much we could do for them at the moment. I was an emotional wreck and as we got back to the hotel room, I laid on my bed and had a very emotional cry.

I wonder what God sees when He knows these children are hurting- they are His children and this world is not fair to them. I do know that He is intimately aware of everything on their hearts.
Psalm 56:8
⁸ You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.

As painful as it was for me to see these children and so many others we met in Africa, I know it is painful for God. We often ask God to give us His heart, to break our hearts for what breaks His... this is what this hospital visit did for me. His love extends to much greater lengths than ours ever could. I don't want any child to ever go through life not feeling loved, that's my personal agenda. I have a very strong feeling that this is God's heart too...

Will you help me get to Africa so I can be His arms to all the orphaned children He puts in my path? Please, please consider partnering with me monthly so I can be there by August! bethanneyoung@gmail.com

Trust in Your Leader

Matt 13:31-33, 52
31He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³² Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

³³ He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds^a]">[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Nugget from 9/17/07, Swaziland, Africa (First Trip)
God was telling me that what I'm doing may feel small to me, but to His kingdom it will mean so much more. He was also saying that I'm prepared, whether I know it or not, I'll have what I need when i need it.

He also gave me this analogy: Any leader, when faced with a desperate situation, pulls out all the stops! Isn't God a great leader? Africa is in a desperate situation... He's telling me that I'm the BEST person for the job right now! What an honor!

Out of everyone, He is choosing me!! God is calling me, in these desperate times, to be HIS hands and feet in Africa, to share HIS heart with the Swazi people! And He thinks YOU are the best person to partner with me! Again, what an honor! God has chosen us, for this moment- such a time as this, to partner together to do HIS work in Africa! Let's not fail to act, leaving Him to ask His second choice or go to His back-up plan.

Listen to the tug on your heart, obey His prompting, Accept the role and partner with me today! bethanneyoung@gmail.com!!