A Heart for China

204b“Be Still And Know That I am God….”  Psalm 46:10

I woke up to my morning in China at 4:30am, and received a sweet email from my best friend as I was headed out the door for the airport, asking how I was doing.  I emailed back quickly as I did last minute packing, telling her I felt somewhat like an emotional wreck but that I would rise above it! Heaven forbid the day that I grow cold and unemotional about the work I do with orphans in China.  That will be the day that someone else needs to fill my shoes.  I hope it is always hard for me, and that my heart is always full of compassion for the children that are abandoned here.  I cannot stay there though, I must rise above it and do something about it.  I look forward to returning home and working hard to place these kids that I met this week. 

My mother gave me a book before I left for China that I tucked away in to my carry on.  Today was the first day I have had time to pull it out and look at it due to how busy I have been, but it was so fitting that I had to chuckle.  The name of it is, “Having A Mary Heart in a Martha World” from Luke 10:38-42.  As I boarded the plane to Shanghai this morning I settled in on the plane to read this book and the Lord brought the Scripture Psalm 46:10 to mind. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” I took a deep breathe and sighed heavily, I needed to hear those words as I tied up this week. He is why I do what I do, and I work for Him first and foremost, before AGCI, I want to honor Him with all that I do, He is first.  Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” My desire is to please the Lord in all I do, the wonderful thing is, I know this is the heart of AGCI too, and that is why I love working for AGCI!

Reading through this book, the first chapter talks about how we have to put worship before our work.  I wanted to share part of what I read with you:

“When we put work before worship, we put the cart before the horse. The cart is important, so is the horse. But the horse must come first, or we end up pulling the cart on to ourselves.  Frustrated and weary, we can nearly break under the pressure of service, for there is always something that needs to be done.  When we spend time in his presence, when we take time to hear his voice, God provides the horsepower we need to pull the heaviest load. He saddles up Grace and invites us to take a ride.”

As I close out this trip, I want to give all the glory to God for what he has done and will do in China.  I am excited to see what will be accomplished.  I would appreciate your prayers for the children, whose faces have been etched on my heart.  I love these children and want good things for them as I know you do too.  Thank you for your prayers and for following this journey!

2 Responses

    1. Thank you Lindsie! Please be praying for more families to adopt these special focus kids that we saw, these are children that have more significant needs.