I'm pretty sure Satan is messing with my computer, because this entire blog post for no reason, somehow, deleted twice and I had to keep re-writing it. Sorry Satan, but this is a story I have to tell with God. So stop wasting your time and leave me alone.
"I walk the dirt roads of Uganda, and I see the scars that war's left behind. Hope like the sun, is fading. They're waiting for a CURE NO ONE can find. Then I hear, children's voices singing, of a GOD who HEALS and RESCUES and RESTORES, and I'm reminded, EVERY CHILD IN AFRICA IS YOURS."
Those are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, "Yours" by Steven Curtis Chapman. And in those lyrics, I almost get tears in my eyes.
Today my school had our annual International Luncheon. Everyone brought in an international dish (there was everything from pizza to baklava, from chinese noodles to russian crepes. I really wanted to bring in something Ethiopian, but I couldn't find anything that sounded good (I love Ethiopian culture for sure, but the food is.....pretty interesting, if you know what I mean). So I settled on fortune cookies. I mean, who doesn't love fortune cookies? The FLC where we had our luncheon was decorated with flags and maps and some of the volunteers were dressed in international apparel, whether they had been on a missions trip or were from another country themselves. It was a lot of fun. Although, I wish we could have some of the missionaries speak. We don't have Missions Week in Middle School anymore, but instead two Spiritual Emphasis Week. Although I love SE week, I really miss Missions Week. I had loved it so much in elementary.
Later that day my mom and I visited the Sciscianis and I played with Anela, Gigi, and the little boys, Charley and Fred. First of all, Nellie is so, so cute and you can tell she loves her family and that she's an easy baby. Since it was our first time seeing Nellie (and the whole family, for that matter) since the airport, my mom and I talked a lot about adoption/missions/China with Mrs. Scisciani. It was great. Nellie's orphanage (a really great Christian one) even sent her home with a beautiful, homemade Chinese scrapbook. It was filled with baby pictures of Nellie from when she was found abandoned right up until her adoption. It also had love letters from people at the orphanage and information about baby Nellie...her favorite foods when she was little, first crawling, how she acted...everything you'd see in a regular baby book. I thought that was amazing for the orphanage to do that. Funny enough my mom and I ate Chinese afterward, and then jammed to Missionary songs like "Yours" and "I Refuse" so my day was a slam-packed day filled with missions and international hype.
And I was just thinking, "Wow". He loves us. He love us all. He loves everything, every little life ever conceived (and what I mean by that is every little baby who never got the chance to live and everything after and before). We are all His, and He loves everyone. He adores every Jew, every Gentile. Every Muslim, every Buddhist. Every Asian, every African. Every white person, every black person. Ever blond, every red-head, every brunette. Every Australian, every Brazilian. Every American, every Ethiopian. Every Christian who loves Him back, and every Atheist who rejects and despises Him. You better believe it.
As a 13 year old girl, I have an interest that's pretty unique, pretty "strange". That's because one group of people I really want to minister to is the Muslims/The Middle Easterners. A lot of Christians hate Muslims (by the way, if you call yourself a Christian and hate a people group, you better go check yourself and see if you are really following His example). If you frequently follow my blog, you may have noticed I often post pictures of Muslim and Middle Eastern people. This is because I feel that they go unchecked. Unnoticed, if you will. Unloved. Uncared for. Unwanted. Forgotten.
I don't want to point this person out, but a few months ago I posted some facts about Afghanistan and why we need to help the people there on my Facebook wall. One of my FB friends commented, "Thank you for this reminder to pray for our enemies." Girlfriend, I don't give a heck about who we are in a "war" with. They are DYING children. They are HURTING people who are in PAIN. They are not my enemy. They are God's children. They need us. And yet we are not there for them. We barely hear them.
I know that Islam is the enemy of Christianity and Israel and things of the sort. I know that they do not stand for what is right. But this does not mean that its followers are somehow invalid to receive Christ. And I personally think that a lot of losers think so.
When I tell people one of my biggest dreams is to witness to Afghanistan or Pakistan and be a missionary there, they literally look at me like I have three heads. WHY? I almost want to yell at them,
WHAT IS WRONG???
I want to share with you some things I've learned. Did you know that in the Middle East, it is legal, and acceptable (listen to that word. ACCEPTABLE) for a man to physically and emotionally abuse his wife and children. Women and children, especially those with disabilities or deformities, are treated like pack animals. Did you know that in recent news, a woman in Afghanistan was sent to jail after a man raped her and the woman became pregnant. She had her child in jail, and the only way she could ever get out of jail was to become wife of the man who raped her, and she did so for the baby.
Something else people always tell me when I tell them about wanting to preach to the Middle East, they blabber about how it is "too dangerous". Please. Sharing God's Word in any part of the world in this day and age is dangerous. I can think back to when China was like that exotic land, the land where Christians were killed, the land where no missionaries went. Excuse me if I'm the only one who's been keeping up with this, but recently in China, Christianity has been sweeping the nation. Churches are growing, people are converting, and God is working miracles every day there. I've watched many news reports about it on Youtube. But when I search in "Middle East Christians" or something of the sort, I see that they are being persecuted. They are fleeing their homes. And there is no one, no one there. There is especially no one to save the lost before it is too late, and it breaks my heart. So I'm saying, if Christianity can sweep China like a wildfire, who's to say it can't do the same in the Middle East?
I think we are forgetting....
"He said to them, 'Go out into ALL the world and preach the good news to ALL creation." Mark 16:15
Did you catch that word? ALL the world. ALL creation.
There's another song I really like. It's called "I Refuse". If you want to hear it, go to the music box at the bottom of this page and select it. As the song says...I don't want to say another empty prayer. I don't want to act like someone who doesn't care. No...I REFUSE. I REFUSE to ignore them. I REFUSE to act like every thing's fine when its not in other countries. I am tired of making excuses. I pull the "I'm too young so I'll wait until I'm older" thing out a lot, but I'm tired of saying that, actually. This weekend I'm going to look things up and see what I can do. I think I may write another letter to World Vision and maybe one to Samaritan's Purse. Because, I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being a spoiled American child who only thinks about the world and never goes into it.
ONCE OUR EYES ARE OPENED, WE CANNOT PRETEND AS IF WE HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.
Jesus, I love you. This world, it's YOURS. The people of America, they are YOURS. The Afghans, they are YOURS. Rahwa, she is YOURS. My Ethiopian siblings, they are YOURS. I am YOURS.
It's all YOURS.
