I love in SE Portland. Not exactly the best of neighbor hoods. When I stay in my little cul de sac or just go the the grocery store I don't tend to see too many sad stories. Lately when ever I go to the park by my house I see so many sad stories. It breaks my heart. And I know it breaks my Papa's heart too!!
Today my family went to the park with Slurpee's to try and cool off from the crazy heat. And there were a lot of other people looking to do the same thing. So it was a busy busy place. Lots of people watching to do. In the past I have felt strongly, no VERY STRONGLY that there is such a huge need for mission work outside of the United States. In the past my husband and I would have conversations about missions. I wanted to GO GO GO. And he would always say no, why not just do mission work here locally? And I would say that there is a church on every corner. There is not as big of a need here. Where if you go to some where like Kyrgyzstan (my hearts desire) there is a HUGE need there. They do not have a lot of churches. I wish I had all the facts of what and how many churches they have there?? But I don't. I do know that they are 80% Muslim and then the other 20% is a mixture of many different religions. With Christianity being one of the lowest in there percentage wise. Anyhoo....With all the conversation we used to have I would always stand my ground saying yes of course there is a need here. There is a need everywhere really! But there is a HUGE need in other places. Well as of the last 2 years my husband has started to understand my heart and it has even become his own heart to go out into the world and share the love of Jesus. Be a light! (YAY)!!!! All of this background stuff was to say that I am really starting to see the need here!! Crazy,amazing, and funny to me. For so long I have had a one track mind that I need to GO. But now I am seeing that while I am here (which we will be here for awhile till we get our debt down) I am ok with that. I see a need and I want to help. I want to share the love of Jesus. I want to show people that they can have HOPE!! Makes me excited!! Anytime I think about Jesus and his love and sharing it I get excited!!
So here is the catch.... I don't know how to reach these people? And to be honest I have a lot of fears of walking up to them and asking them if I could pray for them! It scares the heeby-geebez out of me! I am not sure why other then the enemy. Because I know there is no Fear with Christ.
I know that can only come from the enemy.
I did have one good idea of bringing Popsicles to the park and then offering prayer. I even went and bought a box of them. But since they have just been sitting in the freezer Rylee my daughter has been eating them like crazy on these hot days. And it makes me sad to think they are not being used the way I thought they would be. I know I can always buy another box (which I am planning on) I think the harder part is getting over my fears of talking to complete strangers. I am not sure why it is so much easier to talk to a foreigner in a foreign land verses a local person in my community? But it is!
I think it is great that God has been brewing something in my heart for my community. And I want to do something about it! If you want to join me with prayer I would LOVE that. If you want to join me physically by coming to the park with Popsicles I would LOVE that too!! God has so much love for these people I can feel it! I can see it!! And I can tell that many of them are hurting and have no hope.
I want to change that!
I love it when you take the time to read my blog and hear my heart! Let me know what you think? Let me know if I can pray for you? I love to pray! I love to connect with other people!! And I hope that everyone who reads this is sitting in a air conditioned room and feeling nice and cool =)
Blessings and Love!!
4 comments:
I wish I had words of encouragement or an idea that would help with the fear. But as you know, I have that fear every day! And not even when talking about anything in particular. I've often wanted to reach out to someone and kept quiet.
I'll pray on this and hope you can find an answer!
Thanks Amber. You are always so encouraging!! I will keep you in my prayers as well that God will help you overcome your fears!
Hi Amy! First of all, I want to say that I love your heart and think its such a wonderful thing that you want to reach out! The popcicle idea is awesome and I believe God totally planted that seed!...that being said, I have some experience through work with talking to people from "bad neighborhoods", with turmoil in their lives and tragic pasts. One of the things that I've learned is that while our intentions are good when we want to say "how can I pray for you" or bring up God in some way, that's not always best. Most of the time we have to be even MORE vulnerable and build a relationship first and get to know the person. It takes time and can be a (painfully) slow process. Eventually when we have gotten to know the person, related to them in some way, shared bits of our own life ect., THAT is when we can carefully choose to share our God. Sometimes we can be seen as "the crazy lady in the park" if we were to just blurt out that we would like to pray for them. Not always, but probably most the time. People with a lot of hurt in their lives can even be OFFENDED by someone thinking they are "better" than them, which is totally the opposite of what we are trying to do. I've made a fool of myself in that way. But when they know you, Amy the cool, funny, kind person that you are...and then later you share WHY you are that way, they want a piece of it! Well....I hope this is helpful and possibly even encouraging....I think you are going to do great, AMAZING things for our community. God shines through you! I love you!
I think that when you are ready, God will give you the wisdom and strength to reach out to your community. I love you lots and miss you like crazy!
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