Tag: being christian

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The Greatest Fortress…

What is a Fortress? Well, the Collins English Dictionary online defines it as:

— n
1. a large fort or fortified town
2. a place or source of refuge or support

i like the sound of that – a place of refuge or support. Don’t you?

Some time ago, i read about a place of refuge and support, a stronghold for everyone. That’s right for everyone, for everyone who would recognise that it is a great fortress. It is a source of comfort i have known for a while now.

What am i talking about? i’m talking about Prayer! Prayers to the Lord God Almighty, to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is my fortress. And it can be anyone’s fortress who will and can pray to Him, who will and knows how to bring their problems to Him. He is there for us, day and night to protect us, if we accept Him and let Him into our lives.

You can read the whole article here: The Greatest Fortress « The Daily Way.

But what about people who don’t know about God? What if they live in a place where God is not mentioned? What if they themselves can not understand enough to accept God? People like the little orphans i pray and advocate for.

Well, that’s where we, the people who can pray come in, we can pray for these precious ones who are unable to or don’t know how to raise their voices in prayer. We stand in the gap for them. We pray to God on their behalf.

Little Brandi will turn 5 in a few days and needs her forever family today.

And today i pray specifically for little Brandi. Isn’t her smile absolutely radiant? i smile just looking her laughing face.

However, life isn’t all that rosy for her. She will be turning 5 on Friday, this Friday, August 31. But she will have no one who will celebrate it with her and for her. She lives in an orphanage, in a country where orphans with disabilities are transferred to an adult mental institution when they are between the ages of 4 and 6. Which means Brandi faces transfer to a place where there is no future for her, a place where there is only four walls and nothing else. Such a place is not for children! It is not even suitable for mentally disable adults. It is a place where they will regress. To put it bluntly, it is a fortress of despair.

Brandi would do so very well in a loving family environment, they would be her fortress of refuge and support. She has CP (Cerebral Palsy) and microcephaly, but is physically active. She has hearing problems and developmental problems. But these are all treatable and manageable if she lives in a country with better medical care and better understanding of her conditions.

So i stand in the gap for Brandi today. Will you stand with me? Will you pray with me for her daily needs, for her forever family to come for her today?

Maybe you feel that tug in your heart – are you her family?

Or maybe you can give hope by donating to her adoption grant, which is really low at the moment. A higher adoption grant means that she will get more notice and the family who does come for her will reach her faster. Click on her name or picture to go to her profile page.

Do also remember to stand in the gap for my little Heath and my lovely Heather.

syc

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Developing Our Heart for God…

…that is the title of an article i read a few months ago…

It talked briefly about the influences Greek scholars and Socratic thinking had on the 3rd and 4th century churches have affected the way we relate to God.

These influences encouraged focus on the intellectual and have became so deep-rooted in our basic thinking that it has also swayed our relationship with God from one of intimacy and power to one where mere knowledge plays a bigger role. It has shifted our priorities, causing us to neglect the building of close relationship which can change lives.

The concluding lines of that article (read full article here) states

We must listen and respond with the heart. Whatever service we give to God should be a result of our relationship with our heavenly Father, not an end unto itself.

And one form of service i have been actively involved in is advocating for orphans with special needs (please click here for more posts on these orphans).

Today is Teamwork Tuesday where we, advocates, shout out about one particular child, in hopes that such concerted efforts would bring the child more notice and help find their forever family.

3-year R.J. waits for his forever family to come for him.

Meet R.J.

He is such a handsome little guy. See those wonderfully soulful eyes. He is 3 years old and we have been told that he would be transferred to an adult mental institution quite soon. After transfer, his chances of getting adopted would diminish, it may even disappear all together.

Reece’s Rainbow (an advocate website) wasn’t even given enough information to be able to start an adoption grant for him (no donation button). Once he is transferred, information would be even harder to get.

Please don’t let R.J. disappear. Please pray for him and share his story so his family can find him today. Click on his name or picture to see his profile on Reece’s Rainbow.

Responding with heart,

syc

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Who Am I?…

A rainbow always reminds me of how much God loves us.

i wondered about this question a fairly bit – at least when i was a child growing up, even more as a teenager trying to define herself. i have not asked this question of myself for quite a while now but the other day, it popped into my mind again. It caused me to look at myself today and myself maybe 20 years earlier (showing my age, huh?)

So who am i? i am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a sister, a godmother, a sister-in-christ, a writer, a blogger (yes there is a difference between the two), a photographer (not professionally, but passionately), and most importantly, i am a child of God.

Does any one role define me? Can any one role tell you about the whole me? No, i believe i am all of that and, prayerfully, i hope i am also much more than my roles.

i love being a wife and a mother – a home manager in essence. i enjoy being a friend and a sister-in-christ. i wish i could be a better daughter and godmother. i hope that my passion in life would be revealed through my writing and blogging. i want to be a professional photographer (maybe some time in the future i will be).

But the one role that possibly tells you more about me than any of the others is – i am a child of God. i believe, 100 and 1 percent, that i am God’s creation and i am here to fulfill His purposes.

Is that too simplistic a way to think? Maybe. But life is complicate enough as it is, i don’t need to make it even harder.

However, being God’s child does not mean that all my other roles take a backseat. In fact, it gives them more direction. When i am with my son, i am a mother to him and i pray i will be able to mirror God to him. Love him as God loves me. When i am with my husband, i am a wife and again God speaks very clearly about this in the Bible (see here). When i am with my parents/parents-in-law, i aim to be as loving and filial a daughter/daughter-in-law as i can be because God says to honour my parents.

You see there is no question as to what i should be doing in each situation because if you look at the Bible, truly look at God’s word, it is all there.

Now TODAY, right now, i want to bring my role as a prayer warrior and advocate of special needs orphans to the forefront. Most of you would know that i have been a prayer warrior with Reece’s Rainbow for more than 2 months now. You have read about my little Heath and my lovely Heather. And i thank you for your kind attention.

10 year old Heather, is a healthy sweetie who needs a family asap.

i still pray for them both but TODAY i want to highlight Heather. She is an adorable little girl who has Down Syndrome. But because of that one little extra chromosome, she is an orphan. She will be turning 11 in a few months and have had no one care about that for all those long years. We have very little information about her and that does not bear well, because we have no real knowledge of her actual condition and the circumstances she lives in. What we do know is that she is a child who needs a loving family to care for her, to choose her to be part of their family so that she can excel in life. Could you be her family? Would you join me in prayer for her?

i feel that Heather seems to be overlooked and the reason being there is so little known about her. But as i have said before, this does not make her need less, it makes her need more. The way i see it, she is more neglected in a way than little Heath who has had a little bit more exposure (this is only because a family managed to spot him – no interaction was allowed – when they went to pick up their adopted son from the same institute).

So please don’t let her be pushed to the side any longer. Share her story, donate to her adoption grant  (click here) – a large increase in her grant would get her more notice and make it easier for a family to reach her, pray that her family comes for her. Thank you.

syc