Compassion

I am overwhelmed and convicted by the lack of action to compassion in my life. I am reading Kisses from Katie which is an amazing book! In reading this book I must say that I have to remember as my sweet hubby says not to respond out of guilt but merely conviction in my life. My plate is not the same size as hers nor is it in the vicinity of what God has asked of her! She is a single mom to 14 Ugandan children and I am a married mom to four American children. But we have one very important thing in common--we both love the same Jesus Christ and follow the same Jesus! And through her God is showing me what it looks like to act on compassion. She sees a child hurting and she takes him or her into her home, bathes him, feeds him, nurses him back to health. She then proceeds to educate mom or parents how to properly care for this child. She trusts in the Lord to keep her safe from disease and harm while in some unfathomable conditions to meet the needs of others. Do we forget that the dirty, the sick, the orphan, the diseased, the starving are God's children too? I am so broken right now over the great need in our world of those who are dying in other countries from things that are so easy to fix in ours. It is overwhelming. It is heart-breaking. What are we doing about it? What am I doing about it? Katie Davis lives it everyday and loves as Jesus loves. God is teaching me through her what it looks like to love His people and love them well. And like she says she can only help one person at a time and knows God will show her what that looks like. God is going to use this book in many people's lives and I am grateful He is using it in mine. God made us all...the healthy, the sick, the rich and the poor. We are no different. We are all "fearfully and wonderfully made" in His image. May I see every person God puts in my path this way. May i have compassion on others in a way that moves me to act, not just feel sympathy towards, but act on it! may I love the way Jesus first loved us. When Jesus was tired he still said "let the little children come to me." He was never too busy to heal the sick and make the blind man see. We are so distracted and busy with things that do not matter and things that are not eternal..we meaning me! Lord open our eyes to see through the lenses of how Christ sees them. I was reading in Genesis this morning and the passage was when Moses is placed in the river and found by the princess. The Lord later in my prayers spoke to my heart to say "she had compassion on this child when she saw him and she took him to be her own." Compassion. Action. I have to stop and think that when God moves compassion in my heart am I obedient to follow the action He is asking of me. Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I have four little people right in front of me everyday and they need me and they need me to show them compassion and love and the tender, gentle mercies of God! But sometimes I am "busy" and just don't want to be bothered by those needs. yikes.Now i am not saying we need to respond to every cry and desire of our kids. Absolutely not! but i do need to be on the look out of my own selfish desires coming before their true needs. Katie says in her book, "serving Jesus with ALL of me that is my treasure!" That is a great reminder for me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and serving Him (Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord. Col. 3:23). and to remember that my treasures are eternal ones not earthly. I believe with all my heart God is stirring my heart to prepare me for something right now. He is opening my eyes, opening my heart, and stirring my affections for Him more deeply and intimately! And so as I learn I will "wait on the Lord" to see His plans and His story unfold in my life. The Valley of Vision said this morning---"So shall I wait thy will, pray for it to be done, and by thy grace become fully obedient!!"