Planning not to plan

I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. -Isaiah 56:5

It's a rainy morning and I'm curled up in a cozy chair overlooking a breathtaking bay.  I am soaking up precious moments with my Prince.  His Presence is ever near--I can almost feel His breath on my neck.  What a blessing to be in the courts of the Lord.  What  sweet moments when He beckons me out of bed to spend these glorious moments alone with Him.  It's in those moments when my heart is at peace and I feel that beautiful tension of  utter helplessness before Him mixed with valiant strength and victory pulsing directly from His throne.  I breathe in and breathe out...all around me--Jesus. 

I am at the beach this weekend with some of my closest girlfriends.  Yesterday, we drove jam-packed in a car for over 9 hours to spend two days here planning, brainstorming, and organizing for the SOUP.  I mentioned the SOUP a few months ago in my China blog (check it out here).  I can't tell you how much our King is doing in and through this budding organization.  What began as a small dream in the heart of a simple college girl is turning into a God-sized dream that's affecting over two hundred precious, precious children in Uganda.  This morning we spent time looking at pictures and videos of the SOUP site and praying over the precious faces of the children living there.  We are dreaming big, knowing that we serve a big, big God who loves and cherishes these children way more than we ever could. 

I am humbled, really.  I would have never imagined that I'd be sitting around a table strategizing ways to best provide health care, education, food, and most importantly, knowledge of Jesus Christ for a specific group of children on the other side of the world.  I am honored to pray specifically for these little ones and for their community as a whole.  Our God has huge things up His sleeve, I'll tell you that.  Our prayer is that we will be ever willing vessels of the most High King.  In all our planning and brainstorming, it's easy to get carried away by what we can do for them.  How can we convince people to give money? How can we rally volunteers?  How can we talk someone into moving there permanently?  How can we accurately portray the utter poverty and the realities of these kids' lives without being manipulative and exploitative?  And you know what? We.cannot.  End of story.

Dear SOUP staffers,

I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Love, your King who never ceases fighting

We rest in our incapabilities. It's comforting.  We are useless vessels unless empowered by the Almighty. 

I myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.  I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.  I will feed them in justice.  Ezekiel 34:15