[Today is Sophia's birthday! Be looking for lots of photos of tonight's shindig in the next few days. The following is my contribution to the 40 Day Fast from inspiredtoaction.com]
My wife is compassionate. It’s one of the things I find most beautiful about her. She sees people, when someone suffers, she suffers with them, even people she has never even met.
She was crying the other night and said this: “I just don’t understand. I know I’m supposed to be taking care of my family. That’s how God set it up. But, it just doesn’t seem fair when there is so much injustice and suffering. It seems selfish.”
She feels a tension between giving herself to bring hope to a broken world and spending her days changing dirty diapers. Maybe you’ve had the same struggle.
No doubt God has called Amanda to be a wife and mother, two roles that she is thriving in. However, that doesn’t mean she can’t labor alongside Christ in bringing justice and hope to the oppressed and lost.
Here’s one way we do it: Give money.
Consider this:
1) You and I have a lot of money. (If you don’t believe me, try this.)
2) There are lots of organizations doing amazing work for the Kingdom of God, but they need financial support.
3) Extravagantly giving money for God’s sake pleases Jesus. (Don’t believe me? Read this.)
4) Loving God and taking care of those around you are inseparable. (Love God. Love people. Remember?)
Kiva is a great place to start. Instead of donating money to some huge fund, you make an interest free loan to a unique person in the developing world to help them start or build their small business. Over a period of several months, they pay you back. You can then withdraw the money or make another loan. You can also keep track of your portfolio on the Kiva website. Read more about our experience with Kiva here and here.
Give until hurts. Let your abundance be an instrument of hope and justice. Worship through sacrifice.
[check out official 40 day fast site]
This is a really great post. Really great links! That money scale thing is crazy to see. Good bible verse.
Kiva is such a great organization to highlight too.
Thank you for being a part of the 40 day fast!
hey there blogfast partner!!
GREAT organiztion…i LOVE this place.
if i could get addicted to giving it would be here!
i LOVE helping people reach their dreams…Kiva does that!
I love the work that Kiva does. Thanks for talking about them! I’ll be praying for you and for Kiva today.
I think that an important point to make in relation to giving money is that God promises to provide all of our needs.
My family is well below the national average as far as our income and it’s sometimes hard to find money to give when our basic bills are barely paid. We scrimp and save in order to find this money.
But sometimes, I think that it’s more about giving whether you can find the money or not. This is where you experience that verses like Matthew 6:33 and Phil 4:19 are true.
Happy Birthday Sophia!
Kiva is a great organization. I’m horrible about crying over other peoples spilt milk..if that makes sense. I want to give them all a hug and bandaid to make it all better.
Oh, how many days a week I struggle with the fact that I feel like I should be doing SO MUCH MORE to save the world! I absolutely love being a mother and know it’s where I’m supposed to be right now… but it doesn’t stop me from having those moments when I announce to my husband that we should move to a third world country - TOMORROW!
So many days I want to be a mother to “all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white…” (Think old school sunday school songs…)
I love Kiva. Thanks so much for highlighting them, Ryan. It’s such a simple way to make a big difference.
@jill: I think a lot of people do. And, truthfully, I think the struggle is part of the power and beauty of a life that is lived for Jesus. Keep following Him, Jill!
@The Secret Life of Kat: No problem, Kat.