God is Still God.

Sorry its been awhile since my last blog post. I have not been very intentional in making sure this gets done. Every time I make my way to start writing I get distracted and thrown off course. We have had a good couple of weeks of American groups coming down. The past two weeks have been filled with whole digging, dirt moving, cement pouring, and rebar bending fun.

I would like to take this time to share some statistics with you about the orphans in the world. These number have been running through my head the past few weeks and at some points overwhelming me.

--There are approximatively 148 million orphans in the world according to the World Health Organization

--Only 8 million of those 148 million orphans are in a institution (who knows how many of those institutions actually meet their physical, spiritual, and emotional needs)

--That means there are 140 million children roaming the streets, serving as slaves or prostitutes, fighting wars as child solders, and who knows what else

--There are about 250,000 child solders

-- 90% of orphan girls fall into black market prostitution

That is a BIG problem which needs a BIGGER solution. For someone, who has felt a call in their life towards the plight of the orphan, those numbers can look awfully daunting. I often get caught up in the numbers. I look at those statistics as they permeate them in my mind, and I quickly lose heart. I begin to let doubts and conjectures slip into my head. What can one person do for such a big problem? How can my life and work even make a chip off the block? The truth of the matter is I can do nothing to fix the problem. I can do nothing to provide a adequate and feasible solution. I can do nothing. I quickly let this problem and lack of my ability to fix it consume me and dishearten me. Whats going to happen? How is this OK? Who will love them? In all this thought process somehow I easily forget one simple thing. God is still God!

Thursday night I went to Casa Hogar Douglas to help entertain the kids while some others began the process of bathing them. If there is one children's home, that I have interacted with and connected to on a deeper level then any other it would be Douglass. We put on a movie to watch with the kids while the care givers began marching them in for a shower one by one. One little girl, named Fatima, has really stolen my heart. She ran up to me and jumped into my arms. Throughout the entire movie she was lounging in my lap as if I was her leather recliner. Occasionally she would grab me head, bring it down to hers, give me a kiss on the cheek, and proceed to tell me thank you for everything. I have experiences few actions of gratitude that have moved me more.

As I sat there with that precious child, who preceded to tell me every single thing about the movie we were watching, my frustrations, doubts, and anxieties towards the orphan's cause and my role in it began to melt away. For the first time in awhile, I began to realize and understand the idea of starting with one child at a time in the effort for the orphan's cause. Thats all I can do, and with Christ love that little effort, that one step, becomes something so much bigger and grander then I could ever of imagined. God loves these children. For some wild reason which I am not strong enough to understand, He wants to use me. He will move. I will do little. He will do a lot. God be glorified. The world be changed. I am more then okay with this. Use me! Send me! God is still God.

I challenge you to not lose hope in the Sovereignty of God when you see trials of many kind in and around your life. I challenge you to not let your trust fall when you see the pains in this world. May you have 'faith like potatoes'. You may not be able to see the potatoes as the soil, water, and sun do their work, but the potatoes are growing. You may not always be able to see God move in, around, and through you, but God is moving. Trust in God and rely on Him. God is still God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Roman 8:28

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything... But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind

James 1:2-4, 6

May your afflictions be eclipsed by His Glory.

Love,

Andrew Dixon