Spend yourself in behalf of the hungry

This morning I got an email from the director of Life 2 Orphans, the ministry that cared for my girls in the institution.  The heating system in the institution is broken and will cost approximately $1,500 to fix!  This is a desperate need!  Winter is coming & they have HARD winters, often with snow up to the 2nd story of the orphanage.  Can you PLEASE help out with this????  There are 90 bed ridden children like Sarah was and another 150 delayed/physically challenged children like Selah was....plus another 100+ mentally & physically delayed adult women there!  You can give through  http://www.life2orphans.org/cms/  just put on your gift what it is for and they will make sure it gets to Torez as soon as possible!!!!!!  Thank you for considering giving to this!!!!!!  And if you have a spot to mention, that you gave in honor of the girls I would LOVE to hear that!!!!!!  

Another need is this sweet family...    http://reecesrainbow.org/41836/sponsorpatterson-2
they only need about $2000 more to be fully funded and they have a travel date!  http://hiskindness.wordpress.com/  this is their blog!  Their son Igor has physical handicaps and for awhile it was thought that he was at the girls' institution.  Read their blog and see this families heart!!

I want to tell you about the Basas family, thanks to you guys and others they are fully funded!!!!  They have not opened their blog yet but I'm sure they will soon and I'm sure they will have a story to tell!  But thank God and you all who helped in any way, there will be one less orphan.....   http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=Basas+family   if you keep checking back here on their site, when they open their blog it will be shown on there. 

I just have to testify about giving...I hesitate to share this because I don't want someone to think we're so spiritual or that we're trying to get brownie points or something...  BUT I want to tell you how God works.  A few days ago, we felt led to give some money to a family here.  We gave it and today someone gave that same amount back to us!   I'm not trying to say God will always give you back to the penny exactly what you give away BUT God is faithful and He is the one who keeps the books....  I know this is a cliche' but you can NOT out give God.  Especially when you are giving to the needy...

We have always tithed, we have to, my husband is a minister and it is required in our denomination.  God forbid if you don't...and I have NEVER liked it.  I will just be completely honest...I still don't but I love to freely give.  I don't mean I don't like tithing but I don't like being required to give to our headquarters, I'd rather give to my local church.  I believe in tithing and giving above that.  I feel it is a great discipline to have in our lives.  But this has always been a sore point to me!   We've never been "well off" even when I worked full time but I will tell you a paradox, we now live on less than we ever have before and have FIVE kids  and yet we have more....isn't that funny?   We have to depend on God and we try and listen to Him and be "opened handed" and God has blessed us more than ever in our lives.    Our "joke" is forget the "name it claim it" forget sending in money to big ministries, forget all that and give to orphans or better yet, adopt a few and God will blow you away!   We don't really understand it and we certainly don't try to make a doctrine about it but it's been true in our life.  There are many scriptures that talk about giving to the needy like this one:

" If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, Then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like noonday.
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
Isaiah 58:9-11

I don't know about you but I want to "spend myself on the behalf of the hungry"  That is my heart's cry.  I'm so over the fluff of this life....I want to live real and to spend myself, my life for others.  I have a dream of doing that full time, I don't know if that will ever happen given the circumstances we are in right now but I pray that one day we will be able to do that....  I have a dream....

So I just want to encourage you to give to good things, good works...both of the needs above are good things to give to.  If you give to the orphanage, then you will be a part of keeping orphans and disabled adults warm through a bitter bitter Ukraine winter.  If you give to my friends  the Pattersons, you will a part of bringing home Igor, a child who is disabled, who has no future where he is now....those are good works!!!!  Between the two needs we only have to give $3,500.....that's nothing in the scheme of things here in the USA.  We are still the richest nation on earth.  Our poor in America are richer than about 90% of the world....  we are a blessed nation but we need to be a blessing!!!!

Thank you for all you do....