The Young Family Farm

No new number…YET. Maybe our day is tomorrow. I don’t expect much movement though…but the Lord’s timing is ALWAYS perfect and I rest in the God of all comfort—who I am trusting to comfort my baby where ever he is! A couple of random things to share today…

First, I am SO humbled and thankful to be honored today to have my blog chosen as one of the top 100 Christian Women Blogs To my sweet readers who have become friends and who nominated me for this—THANK YOU. I am so honored! They had 10 blogs for 10 different categories—and my blog was chosen for “Learn-a-Latte Blog”. Visit the entire list at the Internet Cafe and have fun browsing some really fun and inspiring blogs! I am humbled to be nominated for this category as I have a “latte-to-learn”…but you know my heart and life are open books—so maybe there’s something in a post here or there that does bless your heart as a reader and encourage you along your journey. Thank you sweet readers for this encouragement to continue learning and sharing what the Lord is teaching me. I am humbled and thankful!!!

Second, you HAVE to read Tom Davis’s book “Fields of the Fatherless”!Buy it RIGHT now here. After I’m done, I am going to read his “Red Letters: Living a Faith that Bleeds”. He is a great writer with a heart for the poor…specifically the orphan. Here is an excerpt from my reading today:

Luke 12:48 says “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” This is another one of those verses that chafes a bit. Of course it does so in a good way, challenging our modus operandi. How I do life may not always be the way I’m supposed to be doing life. If I’m living in comfort and blessing, more is required of me as a follower of Christ. Ouch. Here’s the bottom line of this truth: My “blessings” are opportunities for me to reveal the reality of the faith I proclaim to possess. It’s the proof in the pudding of my beliefs.

Good stuff. Can’t put this down. You’ll read it in a day if you don’t have kids…and 2 or 3 days if you have kids. OK…so my house was a complete MESS today because I couldn’t put it down. So good. SPEAKING OF FOLLOWING CHRIST…many of you read my post earlier this week on the widow “What About Me?” And some of you responded. Wow. I got several emails from people asking to know more about Wiphan and how they could help the widow. The widow is mentioned almost EVERY time the orphan is in scripture–yet she is the one we often forget about. And she is the one that is actually often times CARING FOR the orphan. SO—back to Tom Davis’s bottom line—how can we use our resources…our blessings…to bless the widow?

I got several emails saying “I’m in.”

Remember what the Lord said to Moses? He wasn’t going to carry the burden alone. The Lord is going to raise up people to hold hands together, serve together and impact these women that HE LOVES together. Is the Lord calling you to ACT on behalf of the widow? Is He calling you to be a voice for her?

Next week, the women on Wiphan’s board are going to get together and we are going to create a seperate facet of the ministry where YOU can specifically ministry to the widow. We are praying the God will raise up other women to join us. I want to start in Zambia where the Lord already has us—and MY DREAM would be to take what we have learned from there to Ethiopia…Uganda…where ever He chooses to take us! We are going to hash out the details of what it would look like next week—but we are hoping to have a montly sponsorship program where women from around the world could sponsor our widows program—and they could invest as MUCH as they wanted to in it…writing letters of encouragement, contributing ideas and resources that can be used toward teaching programs for life-training, maybe helping sell things some of the widows create in your community and for some–even going across the world to pour into them on a trip one day. I’ll be posting details next Thursday or Friday. Until then, if you are reading this—I want to ask you to pray for the widow and how the Lord might want to use YOU in her life.

Tom Davis said “the sure way to deprive the poor of justice is to do nothing.” I don’t know what is ahead—but one thing for me that it CAN NOT be—is to do nothing.

Numbers 16 – I am absolutely blown away by Moses’s heart. The people are complaining about his leadership. God wants to distroy them when He hears them complaining (again!)…and what does Moses do? What do you think your FIRST reaction would be??? “Okay, God—do what you have to do.” But nope. Not Moses. What does he do…AGAIN? Intercedes. Prays. BEGS on their behalf. (Numbers 16:22) And again…God doesn’t distroy them—yet. They were against him. They insulted him. They discouraged him and drug him down. BUT Moses intereceded—he prayed…and he must have loved them.

Help me Lord love others no matter what like Moses.

But still…they wouldn’t follow Moses and submit to his leadership. They rebelled. And the Lord took the lives of the men rebelling—literally the earth swallowed them up.

And instead of fearing the Lord. The rest of the community complained more. And again–the Lord told Moses to step away so He could distroy them too. AND AGAIN–what does Moses do. Fall to the ground and intercedes again…and the plaque the Lord sent on the people stopped. But 14,700 died. AND THIS REALLY HAPPENED. Wow.

Moses longed for them to know the truth—to trust the Lord—to follow his leadership because the Lord had set him apart to lead.

Two things.

One. Help me Lord love no matter what. Help me Lord to not give up on others who I think there is just no hope for. Help me to fight the good fight—and to literally fight for lives.

And two. Help me Lord to submit. To trust the leadership YOU put in place. And trust withOUT complaining. You have ordained the leadership of the church I am. You have ordained the husband I am married to lead me. You have ordained those over my children’s schools to lead. Help me to submit to those you have put in roles to lead me and my family. I pray I can do it with trust and not complain.

Sidenote confession: I wish I could say I submit without complaining. I confess cleverly complaining—and a complaint is a complaint. By no means am I perfect. But I really want to grow in this area. No one likes to hear complaining—so I don’t even want to cleverly complain to those closest to me. And I really don’t want my Creator to hear me complain. I want to trust the Lord without complaint. THIS WEEKS CHALLENGE—for ONE week–I am going to try to not complain about anything. EEK. Did I just say that? Will you join me? And please hold me accountable! If you decided to do this with me, please let me know so I can send you a note of encouragement and practice the art of accountability. The more you do something it becomes a habit—how I would love to foster the habit of being without complaint!

I’m all over the place this week…and almost forgot to post this week’s reading. Are ya still with me people??? Don’t give up!!! How completely cool would it be to finish the year together?! OK…I need you people as much as you need me! Let’s spur one another on! Let us not give up on the reading of His Word!

Numbers 6 This chapter gives the law of the Nazirite people. The Nazirites are NOT Nazarene. Jesus was Nazarene (he also touched the dead and drank wine…something the Nazirites were forbidden to do). Nazirite is a Hebrew word that means “to dedicate, to set apart”. The Lord wants us to be set apart from the world. Campbell Morgan said that when the chruch was the least like the world, the church did the most for the world. Don’t you want this to be true of our lives?!

Numbers 10 – The silver trumpets…these trumpets were to be blown at times of war and in times of celebration—to remind the Lord to rescue and to remind the Lord of His convenant. I’ve never thought about “reminding the Lord” so the way these verses were worded made me think a bit.

The first 10 chapters in Numbers record a nation obeying the Lord…good times. But what is to come (Numbers 10-22) for the most part is a record of their unbelief and failure. Put your seatbelt on. They are getting ready to march on God’s command. And over and over when they marched Moses will repeat “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered! Let them flee before you!” Moses wanted the people to know it was the Lord leading and it would be the Lord leading them to victory. I love that plea before the Lord as it takes me back to my college years. I can hear the prayer of my old pastor’s wife praying this very prayer—over and over she would pray, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered! Let them flee before you!”

I think of many children and woman across the world in bondage. ARISE, O LORD, AND LET YOUR ENEMIES BE SCATTERED! LET THEM FLEE BEFORE YOU! Lead the least of these to victory—to freedom.

I think of a little 3 year old girl in Uganda “Baby M” who needs a family but will not be freed for one…ARISE, O LORD, AND LET YOUR ENEMIES BE SCATTERED! LET THEM FLEE BEFORE YOU!

I think of victims caught in abusive relationships and homes…children scared and feeling like there is no where to turn…ARISE, O LORD, AND LET YOUR ENEMIES BE SCATTERED! LET THEM FLEE BEFORE YOU!
Let us blow our horns together! I picture the people in Who-ville who can’t be heard…but together they blew their horns and ole faithful Horton the Elephant heard them. And when he heard them he fought for them. How often do I look online or hear about groups that are rescuing and think, “Good for them! That’s awesome.” So, I don’t blow my horn. So many are still in bondage. Let us blow our horns loudly—let us cry out to the Lord…Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered! Rescue the people! And use us Lord to do it!

Today’s reading blew me away. SOOOO GOOD. Amazing how you could read the same words each and every year—but how it can speak so different to you where you are. So…once again—bear with me.

The people complain to Moses. And BAM. The Lord sets a fire to rage among them. Moses prays for it to stop. And it does. As if this wasn’t enough to open up the eyes of the people—they start to complain AGAIN. “Oh for this…” and “wish we had that…” and “all we get is this old manna!” Moses hears their complaints—and both he and the Lord become angry.

I hear ya Moses. I’m diggin’. But this is the way of the world. I often say, “Africa will mess you up.” It’s perspective. And perspective—well, changes everything. China messed me up long before Africa did—Africa was just the icing on the cake. We live in an incredibly RICH culture. We not only have homes to live in—but we have food in our frig, air conditioner and heat and our children have the joys of sports. Really, you and I know the list could go on and on AND ON. But often, we become the Israelites. Even in our attempt of sacrificial living, we look to the left or the right and think “Wish I could get a pedicure.” A pedicure? Am I serious? Did I seriously have that thought? Yes, I did. “Wish I could buy some nice jeans”…and again, the list can go on and on AND ON. But we have plenty. We have our manna. And there is nothing more frustrating to our Creator than our complaining about His provision. But there is something more saddening to Him.

Those in need. The poor. The widow. The orphan.

10 Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated. 11 And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? 12 Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors? 13 Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! 15 If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”

Do you feel like you are the only one some days??? Do you feel like you are carrying burdens by yourself??? Some days, is it just too overwhelming that like Moses you just wanna say “take me now!” rather than “use me for your glory, I trust you, and I can do all things through YOU because YOU give me strength.” Oh yeah, like Moses some times I feel like saying, “Do me a favor and spare me this misery.” Can you believe he said that? Some times, I have felt it—I just haven’t gotten the guts to say it…outloud.

You are not alone.

Trust in Him. Don’t give up. And keep Yours eyes on the cross. Do not look to the left or the right. Fight the good fight that He has called YOU to live for—-for HIS glory!

Wednesday’s reading to come (Numbers 14-15:41)