hey friends! yesterday i asked you to come back and read about a ministry one of my best friends started. well, thank you for coming back and reading cami's blogging debut! her heart is real and i'm so thankful to call her a true friend.
so - here's cami....
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“We can not use lack as an excuse to overlook need....We were supplied with everything we need to meet every need 2,000 years ago....He showed us fish and loaves would multiply....lack is not an excuse...Love multiplies in ways I never thought possible. If we claim His name, we have NO EXCUSES....He presents us with opportunities daily to be change agents for Him...I don't want to miss a thing.” -Carolyn Vetter Twietmeyer
Well, hello, Jade followers. Jade has been kind enough to let me have a shot at blogging for the first time...and I am pretty excited! So excited that my mind is all jumbled and all over the place! (imagine that!)Let’s start with what I am trying to tell you all today. I want to tell you about a ministry/organization called “From Daniel’s Tears”. About 9 months ago, my bible study of ten amazing girls began reading “Outlive Your Life” by Max Lucado. And God used it to change our lives in a major way! We had no idea at the time, but we were about to have our hearts broken, be angered, and start having a blast serving our awesome God. We sat around and talked about if we were to “outlive” our life, what would it look like? Who has God burdened our hearts for? Some of the answers included single women in need, orphans, and special needs. So, we finished the book and began to follow God’s leading.
During this time, a girl in our bible study, Sara, was in the process of adopting a little boy from Burkina Faso. Long story short, she and her sweet family came home with Daniel in August.
Burkina is the fifth poorest country in the world. And it has a literacy rate of 21% with a 77% unemployment rate. I began reading a blog from the sweet lady, Ruth, (a must read) that runs the orphanage, Sheltering Wings. As I read this blog, my heart was breaking and there were times that I thought that I could not read anymore, but that was Satan trying to discourage me and tell me that there was nothing I could do about the suffering in Burkina. God encouraged me to read, to cry and to weep with the women who are tormented, raped, roaming the streets, and mentally unwell. To cry for the babies left in wells, for babies that had been laying in the hot sun for days with the afterbirth blood dried to their burning skin, starving and alone.
I was reading story after story of mentally unwell women abandoning newborn babies in wells, throwing them across their huts, and simply losing their minds. I have a four year old, a two year old, and am pregnant now...how are my babies any different from these babies? They are not! God is our Father and it is our job to stand up for these innocent children....it is not too far away, it is not too big of a problem. God is bigger than the problems of Burkina. I started asking myself if I truly believed that. God continued to remind me that babies and children are suffering right now in Burkina Faso, as i sit in my air conditioned house. Just because it is not in my back yard does not mean that it isn’t happening. God was changing my heart and stretching me and it was painful. Painful to see where my priorities were. But, if I have learned anything in the past year, it is to face myself and be honest...I am far from perfect, and God has a lot of work to do in me....so let’s get to work!
I emailed Ruth and asked why so many women were “mentally unwell”. She replied back that it is a real problem in that region of Burkina. Women are accused of being sorceresses and cast out of their family courts left to roam the streets. On the streets they are raped and abused and generally stay pregnant. Ruth said that some women are even chained to trees to keep from killing themselves or others. THIS IS NOT OK. It is 2012 and there are women in the world being chained to trees! I was in complete shock.
Of course, I knew that Satan was out there, and there is a massive amount of suffering in this world, but this was personal now....Sara knows and loves Ruth and the children at her orphanage. These babies are Daniel's friends! My bible study was angered, and it was the anger that led us right into God’s path for us....into action for HIS children!
Let me just say that God is so amazing because through the anger and tears came joy and excitement! God numbered our steps. It was as if we have been walking along a lit path. He lights the path just in front of us and shows us what to do....so we do it, not thinking about the darkness of the rest of the path, just trusting that He is going to continue to lead us into His light. AND HE DOES!!!! Step after step, we have walked right into a full-blown ministry and non-profit organization.
As we sat at dinner the other night, we were telling a friend about how it all came together, and we started to cry, because we did not realize that God had fulfilled all of the areas that we talked about when we started reading “Outlive Your Life”. We had come full-circle. God is using us to reach out to orphans, to women in need, and to special needs....amazing. And honestly, we have never had this much fun. Many of our husbands have gotten involved, as well. We have advocates in Bowling Green, Missouri, Minneapolis, and Lexington. You can be an advocate too!
So what does our ministry do?
We sell $3 bracelets.
Simple, we show our video or tell people about the harsh reality of life in Burkina, and we sell bracelets.
Where does the money go?
$1 to at-risk or rescued from human trafficking girls in nepal that make the bracelets (through an awesome ministry called Eternal Threads)
$1 to Daniel Samson’s former orphanage
$1 to Sheltering Wings orphanage (Ruth’s orphanage) and a fund for the homeless women wandering the streets
Find out more at “From Daniel’s Tears” fb page, the order form for bracelets is on the information page. You can receive a bundle of bracelets to sell without paying up front, as well.
I LOVE serving God like this, because it is easy. If you are following Him, He will lead you and give you the vision, strength, desire, passion, all of it....you just keep your eyes on Him. Thanks for reading my very lengthy post!
Love in Jesus.
Cami
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.
Proverbs 31:8-9
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thank you for reading friends. please consider partnering with cami and from daniel's tears. check out their facebook page for bracelets, or you can email me.
help spread the word. $3 seems like so little to us, but it really can make a difference.
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