31 Days (Day8) Limited in my world wide impact

If you have known me for anytime at all you know that my heart beats for the nations of the world.  Yes, I am the one who watches the opening ceremonies of the Olympics fully through and cries when every countries name is called and their people march with pride.  

Since the age of 14 God has been stirring and cultivating a love for His people in my heart.  And in my marriage, God has given us both a heartbeat to see His Name made Great through out the nations of the world.  Before kids Matt and I had the privilege of traveling to Ecuador, Peru, China, and India multiple times.  We were able to take many students on first and second mission trips.  We are incredibly humbled by all of the things He has allowed us to see with our eyes, touch with our hands, and feel with our hearts around His great big world.

When we had Amelia, my international travel ceased.  Matt's has continued to a few places but not many.  There are days that my heart aches to go and yet I feel the tug of responsibility to my sweet babies.  I may be limited in my ability to go at this stage in my life, but God is not limited in his ability to use me during this time.  

For this time, I feel that God has called me to introduce and pour a love for the nations into my little people.  There are several ways that we do this even now.

• Support John in Kenya through Compassion International.  We have supported John for 8 years.  Even with all the season of change that have gone on in the last 8 years we continue to be faithful to support John.  His picture hangs on our fridge.  We write him multiple letters throughout the year.  We send him updated pictures of our family.  This year, Amelia colored and sent him birthday cards.  We talk about John and his family often in our house.

• Go shopping for the prisoners.  One of our church's satellite campuses works with a local prison. They have had great influence there and have seen many prisoners come to know Jesus.  They often ask for people to help support their ministry by providing the prisoners with toiletries.  That is when I load the kids up and we go to the store and pick out items to give.  The pic below is of Amelia loading up her first toiletry bags. 

• We talk about different countries around the world by looking at the map in our entry hall.  Matt lead a trip to Guatemala back in May.  We found Guatemala on the map and we prayed for daddy, his team and the people he would meet.  Amelia would say so proudly, "Daddy went to 'mala on a plane".  

• We have an alphabet puzzle, that I attached to some particle board with modge podge, that hangs in the kids bathroom.  Each letter has a picture of an animal and the name of a country associated with it.  The kids love pointing out and naming the animals and I love teaching them the name of the associated country.

• Food pantry.  Our church hosts an on going food pantry that we participate in often.  We just bring home a bag, fill it up, and take it back to church.  Amelia and Cooper both love shopping and filling up these bags.

• A few months ago I made Amelia these Share/Save/Spend jars from dollar store containers and vinyl cut from my cricut.  We wanted to start teaching her to give of her first fruits to God and then delegate the rest to save and spend.  She does not get an allowance but every once in a while I will give her change to put in each one and we will talk about the reason behind us putting the money in each jar.  She often says "Jesus", "Amelia", "Cooper".  Which is kinda right....she gives to Jesus first.  She saves for Amelia and she can spend on Cooper if she wants. 

So for now, my adventures may not take me to remote villages in China or India but God has given me such a HUGE responsibility of teaching my own what it means to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  And for that, I AM THANKFUL.  

Maybe you find yourself in a phase of being LIMITED by your world wide impact.  I encourage you to be creative.  Think of small ways that you can make an impact and DO IT!  God is NEVER limited by our "limitations".  He is going to make HIS NAME GREAT by His LIMITLESS resources.  Be one of those resources TODAY!