Packing, planning, preparing, making lists, sending out support letters, organizing the Fundraiser, there is a lot to accomplish in the three weeks before our family gets on the plan for a 20 hours of travel to and 3 weeks of service in China. But before all this started, I promised God that I would not be a "Martha", busy about many things. I asked Him to prepare my heart for China. Not just help me arrange for a dogsitter and a house-plant waterer.
I am so forgetful. So faithless.
Already this week I have been distracted by "good" things. Not the "best" thing--sitting at Jesus' feet and letting him move in, work on, clean out, and order my heart. I DO NOT want to plan and pack and just show up to "look after orphans in their distress".
Yesterday's quiet time was a gentle reminder of His heart. Since last summer, we have been praying for the orphans in China. I have wanted to find ways to love them in practical and tangible ways. God opened the doors for us to go to some of them and bring them hope this summer. The verse we have used as our directive is:
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
I read the verses that come BEFORE that one in the Bible. Verses 19-26 in the first chapter of the Book of James share a lot of pointers for how I can be prepared to carry out His kind of religion:
Be quick to listen.
Be slow to speak.
Be slow to become angry.
Get rid of my moral filth.
Humbly accept His Word.
DO what it says.
Keep a tight rein on my tongue.
Suddenly all my lists and things to do seem less important. I have plenty of other things, FIRST THINGS, to pray about and work on before I am truly prepared to love the least of these with Christ's Love. God didn't chose me to go because I was perfect. I need help in all of these areas. But I trust Him to accomplish this work in my heart as I am willing to obey and go.
NBC
