Praying for Treasure

I didn't earn the nickname "Action Amy" for nothin'.

I'm not saying that I'm bossy exactly, but.... It was deserved, and my partner, Praying Pam, definitely got the more spiritual moniker. Even now I struggle to remember the truth that I heard in a quote years ago: "Prayer isn't just the preparation for the work. It IS the work."

As I seek God for how He wants me to invest my time in spreading the message of "Treasured" to other women, I also need to make it a regular item for prayer. Only when we invest in prayer will we see the divine dividends that our hearts long for.

Here are two fantastic resources to help us pray.

• TransWorld Radio is an amazing ministry that transmits the gospel message in 200 languages world wide. The women's branch, Project Hannah, includes a prayer ministry and prayer newsletter that is also distributed world wide. I was so moved to hear that this newsletter is also taken into remote villages where women are illiterate. The prayer requests are read aloud to them in their own language, and the women join to pray. Doesn't that move your heart? Women who are living in the midst of some of the very conditions that we've been discussing are praying for you and me and other women worldwide. Click here to find the prayer calendar in your language. Please also take some time to read about this wonderful work on their website.



• I've been receiving Samaritan's Purse's Prayer Point for years. You can receive it for free with a gift of any amount to Samaritan's Purse by clicking here. I love it, because each month focuses on a country or people group. There's a story about a person there along with specific requests to prayer for that country.

Pray is not only powerful, it's a necessity to address the God-sized problem of the abuse of women in the world. Let's join together in prayer and watch to join in action where God is working.

Investing in Treasure

Today's post is written by my dear friend, Heatherly Sylvia. I'm so excited for you to hear her heart today.

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, "What are you doing?"
The youth replied, "Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them back they'll die."
"Son," the man said, "don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can't make a difference!"

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, "I made a difference to that one."
- attributed to Loren Eisley

The problems of extreme poverty, sweatshops, child labor, and human trafficking are overwhelming. They are overwhelming in scope, in complexity, and in emotion. They are issues that, as a Christian woman, I feel powerless over. Scratch that. I felt powerless over. Like the little boy and the starfish, I have the joy and satisfaction of knowing that I have been able to make a difference to several dozen women who have escaped prostitution and sweatshops, are fighting to keep their children, or are looking to provide for their families with dignity.

I am a voice for women who have no voice.

One of our Gifts of Hope recipients, Martha, seen here with the goat paid for by party sales.

Isn't that what we all want?

Dignity. Dignity is defined as the "bearing, conduct, or speech indicative of self-respect or appreciation of the formality or gravity of an occasion or situation" or, and this one strikes a chord, "nobility or elevation of character; worthiness."

These precious sisters do not want a hand out. They do not want charity. They want to know they have worth.They want an opportunity, and that is what I have - an opportunity to partner with them through my work with Trades of Hope.

Trades of Hope sells fair trade products using a home party model. Party attendees have the opportunity to purchase gorgeous, unique handmade products while providing an opportunity for these precious women {and a handful of men} to provide for their families.

And the artisans have the satisfaction that comes from helping me, too.

Isn't that what we all want - to serve? To serve in a meaningful way that touches someone, that means something to someone, that glorifies Someone?

I hope to travel to Haiti and have the opportunity to meet the strong women of the Apparent Project. I want to hug them and thank them for the opportunity to share their stories, and for helping me put food on my table. I want to share with them how their recycled paper beads are making people aware of the plight of orphans in Haiti - and the fact that many of those "orphans" have parents still living that cannot care for them - and the lack of infrastructure that prevents the paperboard they use from being recycled. I want to meet these beautiful women who work downstairs to create and sell a product that is helping them, their children, and beautifying their community, while others watch their children upstairs, allowing the families to stay together. I want to share with them the compliments I have been given over their jewelry, they opportunities I've had to share their talent. Their strength.

One of the Apparent Project artisans creating treasure out of trash.

I dream of traveling to Bangladesh, of meeting the women who create Sacred Mark soap and tell them how much I admire them for making the hard, brave choice of staying in the red light district and making soap to symbolize their purity in Jesus. I want to meet the women who line up outside their co-op and beg for an opportunity to provide for their families without selling their bodies.

I dream of meeting the women of Thistle Farms, of thanking them and worshiping with them, of hearing their stories. Because but by the grace of God, I may have been a woman in need of the Magdelene Project.

You don't need to be a Compassion Entrepreneur with Trades of Hope to make a difference. You don't even need to go on an eye-opening missions trip like Amy did. Start somewhere: educate yourself about human trafficking here in the US; buy fair trade products when you can; volunteer in a soup kitchen; sponsor a child through Compassion; learn about the realities of being a woman in other countries. I've listed some resources below to help you get started.

These are mothers, daughters, sisters, friends.

They do not want a hand out. They want an opportunity. They want to know they have value. Dignity.

Isn't that what we all want?

I know that it's my heart cry.

I worship You, Lord, because you created me as your poema, your masterpiece, created in advance with good works set aside for me to do. {Ephesians 2:10}

Additional Resources:Want to learn more? Read Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn and Carolyn Custis James' Half the Church.

Christian singer Natalie Grant has a fantastic foundation that is working to abolish human trafficking which you can learn about here.

If you'd like to learn more about Trades of Hope, please visit our website: www.TradesofHope.com. To make a purchase click here. {This is my affiliate link.} If you'd like an opportunity to become a world- changer through Trades of Hope please email me at pinkdaisyjane@gmail.com

A busy wife and home school mom to two children and self-diagnosed book addict, Heatherly still finds time to work for Trades of Hope, a missional fair trade home party company that works with artisans around the world to make a fair wage. A textbook extrovert with little time for coffee breaks, Heatherly is convinced that Twitter, Facebook, and blogging were invented with her in mind.

Heatherly is an apprentice grace-giver. She hopes to one day be a professional.

You can read more from Heatherly at http://www.pinkdaisyjane.com/.
Follow her on Twitter @pinkdaisyjane.

Steps to Revealing Treasure

Our world is in a crisis.

The truth is that our world is filled with crisis, but there is one that has grabbed my heart and won't let go. It's the crisis of abuse of women around the globe.

It's a crisis of massive proportions and yet there is little being said, especially in the church.

Why?

First, I want to give you a few statistics just in case you, like I was, are unaware of the scope of the crisis:

• 39,000 Chinese baby girls die in their first year of life annually because parents don't give them the same medical care that boys receive.
  


• In India, a "bride burning"--to punish a woman for an inadequate dowry or to eliminate her so a man can remarry--takes place approximately once every two hours.
  


• Although females typically outnumber males, Pakistan has 111 males for every 100 females.
  


• Particularly in India and China, ultra-sound is being used for gender identification so that girls can be aborted.
  


• 1 million children are forced into prostitution each year and the total number of prostituted children could be as high as 10 million. (Boys and girls are included in this statistic.)
  


• In the Congo, it's estimated that up to 3/4 of the female population has been raped.



• In South Africa, 21% of women reported that they had been raped by age 15.



• Some studies suggest that 1/3 of women world wide are beaten in their homes.

**These statistics came from a book called Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. We also know that these practices are also happening right here in the US.

So why aren't we talking more about the problem and doing more to help women?

I haven't done any studies, but I think it's complex. Hearing statistics like this overwhelms me, and you probably feel the same way. I tend to shut down when I feel as if there's nothing I can do. There is a quote from the president of International Justice Mission that grips me, though. He said, "I used to ask, 'Where is God?' Now I ask, 'Where are God's People?'"

On Friday, my friend Heatherly is going to help us with some practical ways that we can be part of the solution. Please come back to hear some ways that we can begin to make a difference.

Christian sisters, this is the important part of what I am burning to say today. I think the biggest reason that women in the church have not risen up to help our sisters around the world is that we're afraid of perception. We don't want to be perceived as radical feminists, because we're women who love God's Word. We want to be women who live according to His Word. Me too!

I'm realizing that I have to change my thinking. This issue of oppressed women isn't about feminism. It's not anti-man. In fact, it's shocking to read how much of the violence is women against other women, and there are many good and godly men who are fighting against these injustices. The issue truly is about oppression...about the strong abusing the week...about the rich exploiting the poor...about a lack of justice.

And God has so much to say in His Word about these things. Here are just a few examples:

Job 26:2 "How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the arm that is feeble!"

Psalm 68:5-6, "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land."

Psalm 12:5, "'Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them.'"

Psalm 82:3-4, "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

If we truly believe that all of God's creation is made in His image and treasured, then we can't ignore the crisis that women around the world are facing. We have to do something.

Are you doing something already? Please share with us. If you're not, join me in taking some steps. Heatherly will help us on Friday, so please come back.

Treasured

Unlike the struggle that it sometimes is to write a devotion, today's devotion, Treasured, just poured out of me. The experiences in India are still so fresh and grip my heart. They're also continuing to shape me and to challenge me in my life at home.

Maybe, like me, you hold the indescribable gift of being well-loved and knowing you are treasured. I’m very thankful for experiencing unconditional love from God and those around me, but often I’ve taken it for granted. Sometimes I’ve been complacent and lazy as I bask in the blessing.

I’ve found that knowing you are God’s treasure is both a blessing and a responsibility.

It’s not enough to internalize the truth; we’re called to spread it.

Spread it to the utterly exhausted mom in the grocery store who can’t remember the last kind word.

Spread it to your single friend who despairs of ever being loved by a husband.

Spread it to a rape victim in Congo.

Spread it to a hungry little girl in Ecuador.

Spread it to the prostitute sold by her mother in Kolkata.

Spread it to your neighbor who has the word “worthless” emblazoned on her soul.

Each one. Treasured. Just like you.

Pass it on.

On Wednesday I'll be sharing more about the journey I'm on to let these truths about being treasured shape me. On Friday my friend Heatherly will be guest blogging about some ways that we can all get involved in spreading the message about God's love. Please, please come back. I usually don't plead for blog visits, but this issue is truly burning on my heart. I'd love for us to be on the journey together.

In the meantime, I want you to know that YOU are treasured. This song by Nicole Nordeman says it beautifully. Watch, listen and soak in this truth.

Hope Triumphs--Viola Davis

Being a huge fan of The Help, both the book and the movie, I was excited to find a speech given by Viola Davis, the actress that plays Aibileen.

For a short message on the power of hope, click here to go watch her message.

Have a great day, friends!

Everybody Loves Community

Don't you just love it when one of your classic favorites comes on tv? Like the Cosby show when Cliff feeds Claire the cake to music? Or the other one when Claire says, "...that is Eunice Chantilly's TACKY bracelet!"? Or the Seinfeld when the soup Nazi banishes them forever? "No more soup for you!"

My very favorite episode of Everybody Loves Raymond came on today. It's the episode when Raymond and Deborah battle over who is going to take the suitcase upstairs. Hilarious! And then they got to my favorite line when Marie says to Deborah,

"Don't let a suitcase filled with cheese become your big fork and spoon."

If you haven't seen the episode, you're probably scratching your head, but it you have, I'll bet you're laughing just like I did.

The loose translation is, "Don't let the little stuff become the big stuff." Wise words, indeed. (See, there is redeeming value to all the tv that I watch! Well, ok. Maybe not all of it.)

Last night and today I was challenged with similar thoughts. At our pastor search committee meeting last night, one of our members said that he has decided to commit to 10 years at our church after our new pastor comes no matter what. James McDonald on today's podcast talks about fellowship as a discipline and discusses what it takes to stay at a church and build community for decades.

No matter what...what it takes...to overlook cheese in a suitcase. I mean to forgive offenses. To support leadership when you don't agree. To sing to music you don't like. To be transparent when life is painful. To reach out to others when they're so messy. To hold your tongue when you want to let the lashes fly. To give a gentle answer when your blood boils. To love others' difficult children ('cause ours are just so precious!). To live and give and take and love and build community.

Who knew Everybody Loves Raymond would bring me to such a place?

(I'd love to hear about your favorite episode of your favorite show and why you love it!)

Pray Deeper

As I prayed this morning, I thought about another lesson from India that I need to internalize once again. I was praying prayers for surface symptoms when suddenly God challenged me to prayer deeper.

After a long day in Siliguri, India, our conference ended with a prayer time that lasted hours. Women, young and old, swathed in colorful saris and sparkling fabics lined up to pour out their hearts' requests.

My interpreter, Merry, would listen carefully and then translate the requests. Woman after woman told Merry of physical pain and frailties. I felt such compassion for these women with true physical needs and scant medical care.

Suddenly, in the midst of praying for sores, joints and healing, a tiny woman spoke to Merry, and Merry's eyes lit up. Merry leaned toward me to interpret. "This woman says that she has many physical ailments, but she wants us to pray that she would know Jesus and live Him in front of her lost family," Merry excitedly explained.

Both of our eyes filled with tears as we passionately prayed for this woman who recognized her deepest need.

I am so thankful to serve a loving God who cares about even the smallest details of my life. He is the Healer who has compassion on the aches and pains of my aging body. He is the Father who sees my struggles in parenting. He is the Provider who knows that I can barely balance my checkbook let alone understand complex investing.

He cares aboug every aspect of my life and often listens as I focus on the minutae.

But how He must rejoice in the moments that I "get it", when I recognize my deepest need. That need is to know Him. All other needs either pale or are taken care of when I seek Him to meet that need.

I pray that a wise woman in India, you and I would pray deeper.

Doubling Joy

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow. ~Swedish Proverb

The road of being in human relationship is bumpy. I'm reminding myself today of the things that make it worth it.

What joys make friendships worth it to you?

Deliberate Practice

Check out my big boy and his beloved horn...



With a whole series of auditions coming up, Anson is practicing, practicing, practicing (Go, boy, go! We're hoping for some scholarships.). Last night after his lesson, he came home with some interesting information. His teacher, who is a horn player for the NC symphony, spent a big part of the lesson talking to him about deliberate practice vs. haphazard practice.

She repeated this important quote, "Practice doesn't make perfect. It makes permanent."

Practicing incorrect notes, rhythms or pitches over and over only perpares you to perform badly. Deliberate, careful and correct practice is the only preparation for a beautiful performance.

The phrase "in a rut" took on new meaning for me one day as I was reading an article about the effect of habits on our brain. There is actually a groove produced in the area of the brain affected by the habit. That's why it's so hard to actually break a bad habit. You LITERALLY are in a rut! It takes intentional, repeated practice of a new habit to break an old one.

I'm definitely not the musician in the family, but I desire for my life to be a beautiful performance bringing glory to the One who made me. I've been reflecting all day about practicing deliberately and correctly. It means giving thanks when I feel like complaining. It means quieting myself to spend time in Jesus' presence when my to-do list is screaming. It means studying His Words when the words on my Kindle are calling. It means intentionally breaking out of the ruts that my flesh have carved into my brain (and my soul) and choosing new paths where Jesus is leading.

My practice may not ever lead to perfection, but I so want the product to be a thing of beauty.

Open Heart

Gooooood mooooorning New Year!

There's one last day to sleep in at my house, so it's very quiet here except for the sound of my plastic snow flakes hitting my window as the heat whooshes out of the vent. In NC, snow-lovers have to be satisfied with simulated snow most of the time.

Today's the dreaded day. The day to declare New Year's resolutions. I was all happy last year about my resolutions, but after not living up to them so well, I'm not as enthusiastic this year. I thought maybe my first 2 should be:

1. Resolve to never make New Year's resolutions ever again.
2. Resign yourself to failure.

But that seems a little dismal for such a beautiful day at the celebration of new beginnings.

Instead, I'm going to keep it simple. In 2012, I'm going to be more intentional about watching for God and being responsive to His interruptions. I have in mind especially making it more about people and less about my check lists.

It sounds simple, but I know myself. I get so blinded by what I need to do next, I often miss the opportunities to love people who are right in front of my nose. I'm also praying about how to reach out to broken women. It was so easy to compartmentalize that calling into my trip to India, but I know I'm supposed to be engaged here.

So that's it. No grand announcements. Our women's class studied about Balaam from Numbers 22 yesterday. I took note of how he made a very grandiose claim,"Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God."

But then he didn't listen to God at all. He pursued his greed.

So I'll make quieter resolutions this year day by day as He speaks. Then I'll pray, pray, pray that I'll be faithful to what He shows me.