loving others.

Ugh.

I am not a quitter. I hate giving up. And when I try to do something and it isn't working, I will not stop thinking about it or attempting to fix it until it's finished. Maybe it's a good thing. It means I have perseverance. But, I see it as a huge time waster sometimes. Today may or may not be one of those days.

What am I talking about?

Last weekend my church participated in a 24 hour prayer vigil. It was awesome. I went in at 8am Saturday morning and spent an hour praying at different stations placed around the sanctuary. The first station I came to asked us to pray for another country. You were to take a push pin and place it on a large atlas. I stared at it for ten minutes, contemplating where on earth I want my little pink pin to go. Honestly, there was not enough time for me to be taking this long to decide who I wanted to pray for. There was a girl in front of me who made it through three stations while I was still blankly staring at this map. So, I finally chose Ethiopia. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it had something to do with the pictures of little children with distended bellies I vividly remember seeing years ago. So now what? The instructions were for us to pray for that country, and pray for how God wants to use you in that country. Picking the country seemed to be the hardest task so far. Now how in the world am I going to help them?

I'm glad you asked. Prayer is such a wonderful thing. It gives you answers to things you didn't even realize you had asked. I started doing some research on Ethiopia and found out that it is Africa's second most populous country & home to 77 million people. It is also considered a category 5 for hunger. This hunger scale is similar to that of a hurricane. Ehthiopia:Hurricane Katrina :: United States:Tropical Storm (these obviously don't have names, so hopefully you see where I'm going with this). Greater than 35% of the country is malnourished, which is considered a very high risk. So, sticking with the love of orange and fighting for things that I believe in, I'm ready to attack.

Now what?

Now you are up to date with my problem listed earlier. There are many ways to help hunger in general, one being the World Food Programme (WFP). Their tag line is "fighting hunger worldwide". Here's where my stubbornness comes in. I don't want to fight worldwide. I stuck my pin in Ethiopia, I want to help them. Yes, this is silly. I am aware of that. God wants us to help everyone in need. Sooo I've searched and searched and it's a wonderful website with lots of great resources and ways to donate. I can give all the money in the world to helping hunger, but my love language (thank you Gary Chapman) is acts of service, not gifts. But, maybe I need to sit and listen to Him a bit longer before I jump the gun. Maybe I needed to stick my pin there to raise more awareness. So, I'm working on that.

Did you know?

Our planet produces enough food for every man, woman, and child to live healthy and productive lives. Yet over 300 million of the world's children suffer from chronic hunger. In fact, a third of all deaths in children under the age of 5 in developing countries are linked to undernutrition. By giving today, you can help WFP change a child's life forever. I have 3 nephews and 1 niece. Three of them are under the age of 5. The very thought of me losing even one of them scares the life out of me.

$5 can give healthy school meals to a child

$25 can provide nutritious food for a mother and her child

$100 can provide lifesaving food for 1000 victims of emergencies

"O Lord, hear my plea for justice. Listen to my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from honest lips." - Psalm 17:1