Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Happy iFast Day

Wow!!! 11 of you have joined us for iFast58 today! I can't even believe 11 people made it through READING that post! haha I will soon post the iFast58 Summary so that if you'd like to share on your blogs you can! We will have blog badges coming soon as well! For now. . I'll just post the email that I sent to the "iFasters" tonight. This way, if the Lord leads you to join us. . or just to spend a portion of tomorrow in prayer for the poor, hungry and oppressed as well as those who serve them, you can join us!

Happy iFast Day!! Many of you are joining us for the first time this week (at least 11 new people!) remember it's not about how anyone else fasts. . it's about YOU connecting with JESUS and His heart to love you, change you and use you as He connects you more deeply to His heart for the poor.

As I wrote that last sentence, I was reminded of something God taught me last year through reading Fields of the Fatherless by Tom Davis (a fellow iFaster too!). He wrote about the meaning of compassion being to "suffer with" others. What struck me as I pondered that and walked into church that morning was a huge bulletin board with Lamentations 3:22-23 "Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. " I was immediately struck by HIS compassion for me. He has chosen to "suffer with" me. It is because of what HE has done that I can in any way choose to offer compassion to others. I pray that this is true of us on iFast58 days. That we spend time living compassion and choosing to suffer in a small way to better understand the needs of the poor, hungry and oppressed throughout the world and that in that we will come to a fuller understanding of what HE has done for us.

So. . that is my little weekly challenge. This week, as you experience a tad bit of pain. . spend time reflecting on how He CHOSE pain for you. Then, ask Him how we can show compassion to those around us through living out Isaiah 58 in our world.

Prayer Requests for this week:

HopeChest

1. Pray for the Ugandan Vision Trip team leaving next week. Pray for prepared hearts and attacks of the enemy.

2. Pray for our NGO status in Ethiopia

3. Pray for creativity in Russian and we look into innovative ways to expand what we are doing there

4. Pray for the launch of Gugu’s Carepoint in Swazi – that we have all of the profiles by next week

5. Pray for the launch of 1000 new African sponsorships in the next 4 months


Pray also for our field staff:

Joseph Elotu - Uganda

Peter Abera - Ethiopia

Jumbo and Kriek Gerber - Swaziland

Masha and Katya - Russia


Reedemer House in Uganda
1) Wisdom from God in knowing just what I need to focus on while I am there.
2) Discovering His perfect place for the orphanage to relocate to, with room for the right amount of kids, at a good price, and room for our agricultural projects.
3) Details to be worked out for the move and the purchase of new mattresses, etc., as logistics for that sort of thing in Uganda can be overwhelming (unless you serve the God of the whole universe!!!).
4) Funding for the rent, the move, the development projects, and hopefully, a propane cooker (stove) and a refrigerator for the orphanage. (God has provided in amazing ways in just the last 2 weeks - proving that HE wants to take care of these kids even more than we do!)
5) My favorite part and also the most heartbreaking: Finding additional sponsors who have a heart to follow Gods heart and rescue orphans as He commands us to, and then selecting the new kids he wants to become a part of the Redeemer House Family (which means leaving others out!).
6) A speaking opportunity this Sunday, as Elysia and I have just a few minutes to share in her home church about God's work at Redeemer House, how they can uphold Elysia while she is there, and how they can become involved in obediently and joyfully answering God's call to
care for His orphans.

Remember the Poor: We are pursuing having one of the Nkumba Ministry leaders come to the U.S. for about 6 months to be able to share with pastors/ ministry leaders/ etc. Praying for the Lord to open/close doors, guide us, etc in this new endeavor.
Teso update: They are going to Teso on Sept 7th--it's 900 km of bad roads. Praying for the Lord's protection of the people and the food--that every grain of food would get safely to Teso, and that the people of Teso would be brought into the kingdom of God.
Personal: From Meg Clarke
Please pray for the our child(ren) in Ethiopia who we haven't been referred yet, pray that God keeps them safe in HIS sweet hands until we can go and pick them up. Please pray that God opens the floodgates of referrals this month so that we can move up the list quickly. My heart is hurting for all of the families waiting...the last 2 months have been really slow in terms of the number of referrals and the weight of the wait is tiring.

Personal: From Lindsey Andrews
Please pray for her church. They are looking to get involved in sponsoring an orphan carepoint in Uganda through HopeChest. They know they want to do it, but are having a hard time nailing down the date on the calendar. Pray for wisdom for the leadership, and patience for Lindsey as she waits on God's timing. Pray a date is set soon so that she can begin planning.

Red Letters Campaign
We have a leadership weekend this weekend. Pray that the Lord unites us as a team and that He gives us guidance on our next steps in ministry.

Once again, I consider it such a privilege to seek the Lord's face with each one of you. Even though most of us have never met. . tomorrow, we will hang out together in the throne room! Do you not just LOVE that? come on! If you'd like to join us on our weekly conference call tomorrow morning at 9:30 am (eastern time). Please email me for more info at brandi @ kidslake .org

3 comments:

Sharon said...

I'm one of the 11 newbies. So this morning (it's about 8 a.m. here), I'm starving....starving! Ridiculous, since I would not normally have eaten yet anyway. But.....starving. This has been a Ramen noodles and lentils week for me.....I live alone, so I can do that when the budget gets tight.....but I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself. Today, I walk into the kitchen and.....there is so much food! OK, not steak and lobster, but food, and plenty of it. What if this hunger were not a choice just for today? What if I had no choice? But, OK, I'm choosing to fast, so I'll just drink water. And the clean water comes out of the tap.....what if there were no clean water? I am suddenly just dumbfounded at my abundance and overwhelmed at my ingratitude.

Shauna said...

Brandi - I have been trying to figure out what ifast is so thank you for getting me up to speed. I was so excited to see that you posted about The Redeemer House. Kathy is my mother-in-law. So excited to see more people lifting those beautiful kiddos, my mother-in-law and all that needs to be done, up to our Savior today! We join you!

Kathy said...

First of all, Brandi, I was SO surprised to see a comment by my daughter-in-law Shauna, because I didn't even know she was ifasting, or that she followed your blog! How funny that I found out online!

Thank you for sharing the requests for Redeemer House, and for the other specific requests that you shared. What a blessing to know that we are together lifting up the spiritual and physical orphans of this world to our Abba Father. I love it that we are hanging out in the throne room together today, talking to God about one of the things dearest to His heart!

I will be meditating today on the thought that you shared that God's compassion means that He is suffering with us. Wow! Truly awesome!