One of the biggest things I took away from them was how we can get so distracted by everyday life that we lose sight of the urgency there is for problems around the world that other people are facing ... because it doesn't affect us at all.
Every day, more than 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes -- one child every five seconds. 852 million people across the world are hungry.
But those are just numbers. They don't have faces or names. We hear that and think, "That's too bad..." and then we go about our regular life.Months ago I started praying for opportunities in my neighborhood but also for global opportunities to serve people. And a few weeks later a friend and founder of Get the Word Out, a woman who took me to Kenya almost ten years ago, said they were going again this summer and asked me to consider coming. I met with her and learned about what they have been doing lately and what they were working on in Kenya.
They are doing wonderful things. But one cool thing we loved was their mission to take Lifestraw Community Water filters to communities that have no clean water.
I started praying about it and was really excited about the opportunity to return to Kenya. It's always had a special place in my heart. But there was this hesitancy -- a small part of me wondered if it was wise to go and spend $3000 on myself rather than sending the money to help the mission.
Going VS Sending ... a huge debate ... and there's no easy - or right - answer.
But I knew God would let me know what He wanted for me.
I prayed and read my Bible each day seeking His will, but it felt cloudy. Today I was praying about it again and decided to watch a documentary I had noticed on RightNow that Francis Chan had done called In Light of Eternity ... and at the end he might as well have said, "Missy - here's your answer ... "
He said (in my own words) sometimes you have to go, and see, and experience things to understand the plight people are facing and its urgency. But sometimes it's not wise to spend $3000 (I KID YOU NOT HE SAID $3000!) on yourself when you could send that aide to missionaries that are already on the ground, indigenous, know the people, know the language, and are already doing a great work.
I realized God is calling me to go.
Financially.
But not physically.
Not this time.
I've been. I've seen the problem. I've seen what I need to see, I've heard what I need to hear, and now I need to support the work that is already being done. It was made very clear to me the urgency of the problems there, and I was being called to still raise the same amount of money -- but rather than go myself I needed to send water filters in my place.Just like Nehemiah: The Lord has shown me a problem, it has moved me deeply, and we want to be a part of the solution.