God Please Help Us to See!

Friends... this will be hard to read! But because this is so near to my heart and it is representative of how these little ones live all over the world I am passing it on!

It is a post from another voice for the orphan..but please take a moment to read it through.... Then Listen.........Listen for what God is speaking to your heart.... 

love laurie

 

 

 

A Yukky Story That Must Be Shared...

This story is a serious one.

I have prayed for a couple of months about sharing it.

Because of the yukkiness of it, I just couldn't bring myself to.

However, the circumstances are such that,

the time is now.

I would ask that you kindly read it in it's entirety or

feel free to skip it altogether.

At this moment, I am sitting in the comfort of my home,

the kids are watching Despicable Me {one of my personal favorites}.

We picnicked on the floor for lunch {my littles favorite thing to do}.

Liberty made a yummy Mexican dish she found on Pinterest.

It wasn't an expensive nor was it a fancy meal, but it was yummy.

This morning my treasures and I were talking about life.

One of them was sharing their heart about being an orphan

and their pre-family days.

It was a serious discussion.

And although their life was not-so-nice prior to coming home,

they are home.

Safe.

Protected.

Loved.

Cared for.

Wanted.

Snuggled.

No longer lonely.

No longer wondering.

"What's wrong with me that I don't have a family?"

Such a sharp contrast to a situation on the other side

of the world.

At this moment Dw, Graham, Savannah and the rest of the June 2013 GO Team

are speeding their way toward Uganda.

They will land in a few hours.

They have chosen to GO because of the needs they have either seen or heard about.

But this trip is different, on a level that is hard to describe.

Let me back up a speck.

A few years back Dw and I began a ministry {501c3} called

International Voice of the Orphan.

We felt that God would use it be the voice of the orphaned

and vulnerable children around the world.

Among many "arms",

one of the most prominent is the our feeding program.

Many of you have graciously given to it.

Shopping at Orphan Wares or donating something handmade

for others to buy,

provides food for Front Lines + feeding program.

International Voice of the Orphan's Front Lines+ Feeding program feeds

both the street orphans of Kampala and an orphanage where we have served.

Which brings me to the yukky part of the story....

A couple of months ago we received a Facebook message.

It was from our "daughter" Praise who runs the orphanage, House of Praise,

where we serve and where we feed the children there..

Praise wrote that the day before, one of the little treasures in

House of Praise had had an accident outside, his finger had been cut pretty badly

and they had wrapped it up.

However, in the night a rat had come, smelling the blood,

had gnawed on his finger and had eaten a good portion of it off.

His finger now had the bone largely exposed.

He was taken to the hospital where they attempted to fix the finger.

Friends,

What are we doing?

We {me included} live in a beautiful home,

where laughter, joy, friendship,

food, commodities, perks and goodness flow freely.

Yet on the other side of the world,

a little boy in an orphanage has a good portion of his finger eaten off

by a rat in the night as he sleeps?

I can barely talk about it.

This just shouldn't be so.

We must do something!

Little ones who already feel rejected by life,

having a rat gnaw their finger off as they sleep?

We cannot sit back!

We must do more!

Trust me, I hate asking for anything.

But I promised the Lord I would spend the rest of my

life being the Voice of the Orphan.

Which brings me to now....a few days ago

we received a message from a friend of IVO.

They wondered if they could talk to Dw.

Dw called and spoke to the husband.

This generous couple had been praying and had

wondered if we would be willing to take their very generous donation

and use it for

Matching Grants?

We were overjoyed.

The team that is speeding their way toward Uganda is going to work

on several projects.

One of their projects will be to begin building a rat free dorm for House of Praise.

They will build as much as we can afford.

That's where the matching grant comes in.

Trust me, I hate asking for anything.

But I promised the Lord I would spend the rest of my

life being the Voice of the Orphan.

Every dollar donated will have

a dollar matched

from this generous donor.

As you look around your home,

open your fridge, peek in your pantry,

glance in your closet, gander into your garage...

Is there a chance that you give a generous gift

to build this dorm for House of Praise?

The thought of rats running freely as the little ones sleep

is something that is

beyond our comprehension.

These are the projects that the team will be doing,

{and gifts, no matter the project, will be donor matched}:

~ dorm for House of Praise

~ building a rabbit hutch for API

~ a secret project {that will be shared before too long}

~ a Legacy Pastor's Conference where local Ugandan pastors will be

challenged and encouraged to live lives

that leave a Legacy for future generations.

If there a chance you can help with one of these?

There are two places to donate:

IVO's website here.

or

IVO's Facebook page has a donate button here.

{please like our page while you are there,

it encourages the heart so much}

Or if you prefer to mail a check:

International Voice of the Orphan
3820 West Happy Valley Road
Suite141 - #510
Glendale, AZ 85310

As always,

100% of the money donated to the projects will be used for the projects.

Thank you, in advance for your gift ~

no matter how big or small, we commit to steward it well.