.To Worship.

I’ll tell you what it really means to worship the LORD.  Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly. Free those who are abused! Share your food with everyone who is hungry; share your home with the poor and homeless. Give clothes to those in need; don’t turn away your relatives. Then your light will shine like the dawning sun, and you will quickly be healed. Your honesty will protect you as you advance, and the glory of the LORD will defend you from behind. When you beg the LORD for help, he will answer, “Here I am!” (Isaiah 58: 6-8)


If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the poor, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places - firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
(Isaiah 58:10-12)

I am hoping that these verses are true. Oh, I know they are. I believe the Bible is true and infallible. I just want it to be true the way I want it to be true. That probably makes no sense. There is a little precious, hungry, poor boy in Ethiopia that my family is currently fighting and giving ourselves for. Although, I am not at liberty to give all of the details publicly, I will say that the situation has been a roller coaster of emotions for all of us during the past several months. We know that this is a spiritual battle that we are fighting. Some moments we are so confident and strong in our faith - believing that God is at work for His glory. And other moments we are weak, and it seems as if God has abandoned this fight. But then all of the truths that were poured into my heart during our adoption of Jamesy come flooding back. Like this one.

The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. Exodus 14:14

True, this was Moses speaking to the Israelites, but this same God is my God. I believe He fights for me now, just as much as He fought for them years ago.

Then I remember the passage that God took me through over a year ago in Joshua. In Joshua 10:1-15, God actually defied the laws of science and caused the sun to stand still giving Joshua and his armies more daylight to defeat their enemies. That same God that performed the impossible for Joshua is alive and working today.

I want to boldly and audaciously ask God to do the impossible in our situation. The reality that it is even a possibility for us at all is only because He opened the door for it. The opening of the door itself, we were told was impossible. And He did that! He did it without any prodding from us or us seeking it out. Perhaps He did this just to grow our faith, but right now, today, I want to believe it is for even more, I want to believe that we are getting ready to witness a move of God this very week - something that we have been told is probably hopeless and even close to impossible - I want to believe that He is going to do immeasurably more than we can we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

Will you go to the throne with me, even not knowing all of the details? The Author and Finisher of this knows, but I believe He still wants me to fall before Him and fight for this child. I believe God is honored, and my heart beats closer to His heart when I seek justice for the fatherless. It is then that my heart begins to align with His. Will you join me? Isaiah 58 says that when we fight for justice for the least of these, it is then that we are really worshipping the Lord.

Will you join me in this fight in order to join our hearts to worship?

This is a pivotal week in the life of our family and a precious soul in Ethiopia.