When we brought our Joseph home for good at the age of 2 and a half, he had never known what it was like to receive a wrapped present until the day we celebrated his “3rd/1st” birthday…really ! I will never forget that moment when all of our friends gathered and watched him as his very first present was handed to him all wrapped up in fun paper with stickers. He was so thrilled with receiving the package that he had absolutely no desire to unwrap it! Can you imagine?
In our busy house full of young boys, home school, and all encompassing ministry this Christmas I, once again, find myself having to purposely choose to stop and contemplate whether I have opened the extraordinary gifts that the Christ Child brought from heaven to give us…LIFE…LOVE…FORGIVENESS…JOY and PEACE…HEAVENLY peace that is 🙂 not as the world gives…
Precious life-giving Heavenly packages given to each of us to Why, on earth(!), would we … would I?…even consider leaving them un-applied? …un-tapped?…un-leashed?…un-used?…UNWRAPPED!!!! Can you imagine??
THE GIFT TAG:
UN-TO: US!
WITH (unconditional!)LOVE-FROM:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace !
but already her reputation precedes her…at 10 years old!
We are always amazed and often amused at the ways God builds a team to take seriously His command to look after orphans & widows in their distress…
but when we came home one day to find this oatmeal container of cash donations from a lemonade stand for orphans…collected by the same young lady that celebrated her 9th birthday by requesting that people would please bring a donation for widows & orphans of THE WAY HOME instead of a present for her…we knew where the heart of her motivation came from 🙂
Praise God for His work in the hearts of Children for His Glory !
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31
…And we do mean that both literally and figuratively!!
As you look through this pre-harvest window deep into the villages of Luuka and Namatumba, ENJOY the fruit of these courageous and hard working Granny’s labor, with us.
They are proud..we are prouder…and surely God is most proud as these granny-families have begun to thrive by applying the principles of Farming God’s Way to their lives and their farms. They AND their gardens are visible, living testimonies of God’s abundant provision.
Have you ever thought about how much peace & security you have in knowing that God’s adoption of YOU into His family, is permanent?
“Adoption” is one of God’s most powerful words…it describes God’s love for mankind.
Jesus offer’s God’s love to us in a form we could understand…adoption.
Galatians 4:4-5 tells us that God’s primary purpose for sending Jesus into the world was to arrange for our adoption.“…God sent forth His Son…that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
and in John 1:12 ”But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name.”
Jesus Himself said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18
He also said, “I go to prepare a place for you …and I will come again to receive you to myself; ( ‘to adopt you’ Rom 8:23) “that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:2-3
A word we love to think of that’s a partial explanation of ‘Adoption’ is the word “permanency”. Christ will come to us, He will come again and He will receive us to Himself. A forever commitment.
We adopted our three boy’s Joseph, Dominick, and Samson with the concept of ‘permanency’ firmly in mind. When confronted with trials parent’s face raising children in this age, we reflect on the commitment of ‘permanency’. To each of His believer’s (us), Jesus makes the commitment of ‘permanency’. We constantly admire our Granny’s so much as we see their infinitely more serious trials they face than we, in raising their orphaned grand kids.We think of the thoughts must enter the minds of children whose biological parents are erased from their lives for whatever reason. “Who will take care of me”? “Does anyone love me”? “Where will I sleep, what will I eat, will I be safe”? what will happen to my sisters & brothers?
… Isn’t this the spiritual condition we face leading up to the moment of decision in choosing Christ as Savior?
Notice an amazing parallel of Christs’ saying He will permanently adopt and care for us, and someone stepping forward and saying “where I am, there you may be also” in answer to these most urgent questions of an orphaned child. Our Granny’s grandchildren can feel comfort and love, knowing that a future was planned for them that’s in their best interest. Their Granny’s love commitment is concrete evidence to them of God’s love and sovereignty in their lives. Our commitment to strengthen the Granny Families and show them the Way Home, is in honor of ‘family’ and of Christ, the true and permanent HOME & Father to every believer.
ABUNDANCE!!! what a great problem to have in the village where food is scarce and lives hang in the balance every day.
This is the ‘problem’ we have in Luuka district where our widowed grannies have now been convinced that if they FARM & LIVE God’s Way He WILL provide abundantly beyond what they could hope or imagine…and they have the visible ‘fruit’ to prove his promise!
Storehouse additions!Granny-family house addition
SO WE PRAYpare for His abundant provision this growing season with our newly designed secure additions of STOREHOUSES to enable these granny-families to eat, pay for school fees, and even have an income from their abundant harvest provided by the Lord!
A WONDER TO BEHOLD…God’s faithful provision to HIS faithful widowed grannies who have taken on the responsibility to raise their orphaned grandchildren. Glory to God!
Granny Katerine gazing on Abundance!
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:23
Sadly enough…I have never met an orphan that knew when their actual birthday was 🙁 …. but as a part of being called to look after widows & orphans in their distress… we can each celebrate our OWN birthday in a way that significantly impacts the orphans that don’t! Let me tell you how by sharing our story…
I thought of this yesterday as we celebrated our Joseph’s … 13th birthday!
Joseph is 13 at his 10th birthday celebration
Ten years ago, when Joseph became our fourth child, he was estimated to be 2.5 years old. So since no one knew when his actual birth date was… we chose a birth date that would align with that timing and gave him the reverse of Russ’s birthday and month 11/9/99 (just in case, in our old age, our memory’s failed us :)). So approximately 6 months after Joseph became our son, we celebrated his birthday for the very first time. We called it his 3rd FIRST birthday… and it was sweet beyond words!!! He loved the packages that came so beautifully wrapped…but was perfectly pleased to just be getting a beautifully wrapped package…he had no idea that he was supposed to actually OPEN it!
Now…10 years later our lives have been blessed by having Joseph in our family…and even though he knows now, that he’s supposed to open a gift when someone gives one to him…he is still abundantly grateful for it as he is with most things in life and especially in family… even 10 years later at 13…he does not take life or family for granted!
When we were in the USA this past September, one selfless little girl who had been so inspired by Walloon Lake Community Church’s VBS program where the kids raised enough money to build a whole house for a Granny and her Orphans in Uganda, that she decided to ‘dedicate’ her own birthday to the orphans. She sent out invitations to all her friends but asked that instead of a gift, if they could bring a donation for the orphans of The Way Home project! All her friends came to celebrate with donations for orphans in Uganda…so while she celebrated in Mancelona Michigan…she made impact on orphans, who never celebrate their birthdays, in Uganda…what a GIFT!!!
You can be part of “looking after orphans & widows” too with a birthday or any other creative way the spirit may move you to be part of impacting those less fortunate on the opposite side of the globe!
Imagine the memorable gift that would be to you ? A gift that keeps on giving…
Need some help getting the creative juices flowing?? browse our MAKE AN IMPACT page for ideas
Be sure to keep in touch with TWH ministry to widows & orphans by clicking here for our NEWSLETTTER
share it with your friends and keep in touch by letting us know what you think…at info@thewayhomeafrica.com
With God’s provision of an extremely patient and gifted missionary / webmaster from the Ukraine, Jason Wiser (http://webinationstation.com), our new user-friendly website and store to benefit destitute widows raising orphans deep in the village of eastern Uganda…is now LIVE and responsive on an internet connection near YOU!
Get involved and stay in the loop of all the latest news by subscribing to our updates too! 5 minute overview of just what The Way Home is all about:
THE WAY HOME MINISTRY in REVIEW 2012
PLEASE JOIN US IN PRAYER:
Our staff in Uganda has successfully kept the foundations building, the families thriving, and the futures developing for our 40 granny families and the surrounding village community while we were in the states
Even though the drought has been long & the rainy season late…our Granny Families Farming God’s Way gardens have produced testimony harvests to God’s Glory!
Pray for wisdom as we emphasize outreach through Farming God’s Way to the rapidly growing Muslim community in our Luuka district.
Please pray for our planning of our “adoption-God’s idea!” seminar to 100 pastors and their wives in early January
“I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS;
I WILL COME TO YOU”…
John 14:18
Grateful & Blessed from YOUR FEET… keeping FAMILY together in Uganda!
