Motion of Mercy

Back in the middle of February in the Posts "The Ride"- parts I and II, I talked about what finally broke me down about orphans that launched me into where I am today. I could talk for hours, weeks, days about all of the emotions and experiences that I had in Ukraine. You, my faithful readers, know a good chunk of it. But I've never really told the story of how I got to the point where I got Orphan Care.


The School year of 2008-2009 was indeed a tough one for me. That august I had went for the first time to a summer camp called Camp Veritas, which is meant to enrich kids in their Faith and show them the love and glory of God in a one-week span. That 1st year it ever happened and I attended it, me and the other 57 kids there bonded like a family. When we see each other every year since or at other events, we STILL act like a big family. While I'm still not sure whether it was a small compliment or a large contributor, the fact that I would be going to a devout Christian School just a few short minutes away from my house put me even higher on the Spiritual High-o-meter. And the fact that within 24 hours of coming home I learned that school was going to have to close down crushed me. While me and my mom had an awesome year of homeschooling I cherish to this day, the fact that I was so close to attending a great school hung over me the whole year. This wasn't helped at all by the fact that my prayers for a pro-life president that year weren't answered how I had wanted them to be and my family's adoption process for Addisu (my little brother from Ethiopia) wasn't without its times of trial. There were days when I felt numb. I did my schoolwork, watched a British Drama with my Mom at lunch (one of our favorite things to do together), had my meals and went to bed. And then on Sundays I went to church with my family and ran through the motions of my faith. I had went from one pole of the Spiritual High-o-meter ot the other in mere months. But when Addisu came home and he needed some playmates, me and my others siblings fit the bill. And while the renewed sense of purpose he gave me was probably and early sing pointing to Orphan care, at the time I just felt like it meant loving on my new little brother. 

When registrations for Camp came around again that year, I decided I would go again to see my friends and enjoy the week. And maybe if I was lucky I would feel God moving in me. I just said "God, you can show up here and now, or I really don't know where to find You." But that's like saying a professional Baseball player might make a good hit or two when he's got a super-high batting average that shows he can hit 'em out of the park. I quickly remembered that week how we have a God of Wonders who can do all things if we give him the chance to work in us. I felt renewed, refreshed, maybe something close to Reborn. Only I think it was going to Church on Sundays and saying my bedtime prayers with my family that kept me hanging on.

While I had always looked for friends who had an active faith in their lives, I had a real hunger for it now. I was actively looking for faith-related events and friends to go to and hang out with. Doing that brought missionary work more into frame. And as those The ride posts will tell you, that brought me to eventually embrace speaking for those with no voice and doing all in my power to help them.

With all the events of late, the Hinzes being over in country (more on that next post!) and some other exciting events I'm not at disposal to talk about, my days have been full and insane, and I admit it. I don't always get the right sleep. But at the same time, my days are full of meaning. I was thinking about this as I posted something along those lines as my Status on Facebook: I let God heal my wounds and raise me up, and meaning was back in my life. God didn't just call me to orphan care because I needed meaning, but because it showed the motion of mercy. God showed me the Love I don't deserve for nothing in return, now it's my job to show that love to those who do deserve it, and need it, for nothing in return. And its my way of showing the Kingdom that's coming.

So how about you? What's your way of Showing God's motion of mercy towards you? Maybe it's Orphan Ministry. Maybe its mission work. Maybe its scripture study. You'll never know until you let Him in ;)