Remind Me Of This

One of my favorite Christian recording artists is Sara Groves.  One of my most favorite songs of hers is called "Generations."  This song has such a powerful message, and I think that when we listen to it, we normally think of how our bad decisions and poor choices affect other people for generations.  However, the other day when I was listening to the song for probably the thousandth time I thought about how our good choices and decisions can be equally as powerful.  Before I tell you specifically who and what I was thinking about, I want to share a key part of the song with you.  The words go like this, "Remind me of this, with every decision, generations will reap what I sow.  I can pass on a curse or a blessing to those I will never know...." There is a beautiful and precious lady named Marion whom I have never met, who lives in a different state than I do.  She is an elderly lady whose health has not been good of late.  Through means that only God can orchestrate, she and her daughter became involved with Mercy Uganda.  What a blessing they have been. Together, these ladies have been sponsoring children, providing sewing machines, and now.......providing water.  Here are the words of her daughter: "I so much want to help drill the well in Lokop.....I think my mom and I were meant to help answer that prayer.  She has talked about wanting to drill a well for such a long time but never did anything but talk about it.  I always planned to use some of my inheritance to drill a well in her memory and ask that it be called Marion's Well (which we have named it!).  When I walked to the post office yesterday I thought about you and Lydia (one of her sponsored children) and Mercy Uganda and wells and water the whole way.  I decided to talk to Mama when I got home and suggest that we split the cost of a well.  Now I have tears in my eyes thinking that we will be helping to drill a well in a village where I already know people (at least one of her sponsored children is from that area).  That's almost unbelievable.  I am so thankful that Mama and I can help do this through you and Mercy Uganda.  I'm glad that the process can be started now and she will know that what she has wanted to do for such a long time will be done....."
Her "sowing"  seeds of love and generosity, of selflessness and kindness are already ""reaping" hope, and joy, life, and thankful hearts.  Her "sowing"  will be "reaping" new life for generations.  Marion and her daughter are  are passing on a blessing to those they will never know.  I thank God for Marion and her daughter.  I thank God for how He brings people together, how He binds the hearts of His children together to accomplish His awesome purposes in each of our lives.  I pray that God will remind me of this every day of my life, so that I will make decisions, choices, that pass on a blessing too....

In Christ Alone

 This is such a beautiful arrangement of a beautiful song.....
the group is Owl City.  The words are so fitting when thinking about the people....the children of Uganda.
I hope you enjoy the song and are touched by the message 
(Just click on the link below and it will take you to the song)

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLRHv9QPBdXQ&h=OAQB5VOOg

 

Children

After our recent trip to Uganda it seemed only natural to write about the children.  There are so many things we can write about, but every one of them comes back to the children.  Water, food, education, health.....children are affected by the provision of, or lack of all of those.  What we have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears, felt with our hands, and been touched by in our hearts is the children.  It is a fact in Uganda that if you touch the life of a child, it impacts the whole village.  We believe that is why God has placed such a burden on our hearts for these precious little ones.  It is a fact, too, that water, food, education, and health are all linked, inseparable in their roles and their impact on the children.  A child who lacks clean water is sick alot.  A child who is hungry can't learn well, and is sick alot.  A child who lacks an education is stuck in a cycle of poverty that continues the cycle of hunger and illness.  We have seen so many children hungry, so many sick, so many lacking the opportunity for school.....it is overwhelming.  But we serve a big God, a God who knows and understands, a God who hears and answers us when we call on Him.  God is changing lives in Uganda.  God is allowing Mercy Uganda to be a part of what He is doing.  We have been able to put three wells in three different villages.  We have children receiving sponsors and go to school.  We have children getting medical care through our medical team, and through financial gifts for specific medical needs.  Last year, when I went to Karamoja for my very first time, I was overwhelmed by the extreme poverty.  There had been a drought of 5 years, cattle had been raided, a serious lack of water and food.  The village smelled like a barn due to the people in the village not being able to bathe.  They seemed a people without hope.  Then God did amazing things as He always does.....He provided rain, then a well, then sponsors for many of the children in the village.  We went back in May, just over a year after the first visit and saw a green landscape.  We saw a well (or borehole as they call it there), with a lady doing laundry, children drinking water, and gardens of food growing in every direction from the well.  The people in the village were clean, with big smiles on their faces.  Life had returned.  Hope had returned.  God was present there.  God is still present there and doing amazing things....physically, emotionally, but most of all, spiritually.  We still have much to do but know that God is our Father, our Provider, our Healer, and He has Karamoja, He has Uganda in the palm of His hand.....they are His children and He loves them.  God is opening doors for us to begin work on raising funds for land in Uganda to help the children of Karamoja and others in Uganda by building an orphanage and small school.  This, along with a plan for an agriculture and livestock program will provide safe shelter, love....God's love....our love too.....to the children. It will provide an education, and training for the future.....it will provide so much.  It will change the lives of the children, and therefore of the village, of the country.  Please pray for us, and with us as we seek God's will, direction, guidance, wisdom, and provision for this work.  Please pray for these precious children, that they would know their Heavenly Father intimately, that they will see His hand upon their lives, that they would grow in Him. Pray that what He is doing in their lives will bring hundreds, thousands of others to Him too.