I’ve been a Christian for 28 years.

My recent trip was a pathway to actually practicing this fact, more than any other time in my life.

In the US I often FEEL my faith circles around the self. Access to faith is plentiful; rich give to the rich; needs are starkly relative. I noticed my own cyclical, self-centered faith is a foreign concept in light of the birth of the church. I couldn’t relate to “ensuring there are no needy among us.”

I spend most of my time thinking. I spend minimal time simply and straightforwardly doing. Moving out into an others-focused expression of faith in this environment FREED me from the mental loops that rob peace, deprive joy, and waste time. Imagine that — ha!

Coupled with suddenly being in a culture that was more similar to Jesus’ time, this work made every parable, command, act of mercy seem FAR more radical than I formerly comprehended.

“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.”
-James 1:27

“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
-Psalm 82:3

In 2002, I played guitar in Washington DC for a prayer vigil over Sudan, but it took 17 years to actually help a displaced Sudanese family take a hot shower.

I’ve given generously to those who could have bought their own. Finally it occurred to me to give to someone who has zero backup plan.

I wouldn’t withhold a single thing from my nieces and nephews. It’s taken my entire life to at last make 6 kids able to lock a functioning door to feel safe.

I’ve idealized marriage from afar, but in my thirties I got around to simply giving a bed to a woman whose husband left her for another.

Your love can make all the difference

Whilst it is fantastic to bless a refugee family with a new house, we would like to help this family long-term. The family does not have enough resources to keep sending the children to school after December. By the grace of God, one of the five children is already sponsored.

I would love to see God work miracles and have the four other children be sent to school. Is He prompting you to become a sponsor?

This verse sums it up:“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” John 3:18

Thank you again for your care, your openness, and most of all your love. I’m so grateful to be in your family and in your friendships!

Love, Betsy