If I could....

If I could jump on a plane right now I would...

If I could kiss those cheeks, hold those hands, hear that laugh again I would..

These are the faces of the fatherless.

These children are the orphans spoken of in James. The ones we are called to care for.

Will we turn our faces away??

Or will we let God break us. Break our hearts.
The cry of the oppressed is rising up. Calling for the Church to come and rescue.

What are we going to do?
Let's REACH out. With our hands, with our hearts. Let's STAND up.

That God's glory and majesty be made known. That the Church would be united, every tongue, tribe, and nation. That we may be known as a people that LIVES OUT every day the love of Christ. To him who is given much, much is required. We have been given oh so much.
How are we going to respond??

"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."
James 2:17-18

Challenge 2- November, 2009

Month 1- DONE!

Are you ready for month 2??

Okay friends, this month we're going to do Operation Christmas Child!

Operation Christmas Child is a fabulous program run by Samaritan's Purse. They collect Christmas boxes from all over the USA and ship them to kids around the world. And they make it SO EASY for us to do it.

Here's what you do:

1. Hop on to this website and take a look at the list of items the kiddos need: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Pack_A_Shoe_Box/ the list is at the bottom of the page. You can do a box for a boy or girl, and there are different ages you can choose.

2. Go SHOPPING! :) Girls, this is a great challenge. It's one of the only times that shopping is considered a good use of time and money haha.

3. Dig out an old shoebox and fill it up with the gifts!!

4. Print out the label found at the above website and put it on the box.

5. Find a drop-off location: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Drop_Off_Locations/

DROP IT OFF NOVEMBER 16-23!!

That means we only have a few weeks to do this.

But it is so much fun to go and pick things out for these kids. I loved it last year. In a post next week I'll give some ideas on specifically what to buy. Until then just start thinking about it and please join with me! Let's make sure some kids get Christmas gifts this year! :)

1 Week Left!!

Sweet prayer warriors!! 1 week left of the October challenge!!

24 days of prayer so far. 7 days left.

Has God been growing your heart for the orphans through this?? Convicting you?? Encouraging you?? I hope and pray so!!

If you need some inspiration for the last 7 days, my bloggy friend Sharon shared this link with me: http://www.pearpod.com/oc/downloads/40DaysofPrayer.pdf I wish I had known about this at the beginning of the month!! But I'm definitely going to utilize it for the last 7 daysof this prayer challenge and then keep it up until I finish the 40 Days of Prayer that it gives.

I already know what we're going to do next month and I'm EXCITED!!! Get ready for a hands-on opportunity to serve children in another country without leaving your town!! :)

Belief

God has definitely been working in my heart the past few weeks as I've prayed for the fatherless.

He is breaking me again in places that I don't want to be broken. He's brought my thoughts and emotions back to the children who have captured my heart. Both children I've met and those who have no face, no voice, but are oh SO THERE. I just feel the heaviness of the knowledge of the millions of children.

It hurts. It hurts to remember, to be reminded. It hurts to acknowledge disappointment, shattered dreams, the reality of the future for many of these kids.

It shakes me to the core.

The Lord has shown me the past few weeks my lack of belief. Yes I pray. But do I pray with HOPE? Do I pray believing that God IS going to do something? I talk about it alot. All the time really. I preach it to myself everyday. That there is hope for these kids.

But sometimes I just can't get that into my heart. As I look back now, I realize the Lord met me last week late at night. I was having one of those days. Those days where your heart is heavy, where this life I'm living feels rather meaningless compared to the work I could be doing, where Guatemala feels far away, where hope of Claudia ever getting adopted feels oh so unlikely.

I was laying in bed and was just really wrestling with God. As I prayed I had the realization that I wasn't believing. I was praying but I prayed with doubt, guarding my heart. Did I believe God was big enough? Yes. Did I believe He could and would do things? Yes. Was I believing it for these kids, specifically Claudia? Nope.

I cried as the conviction settled in my heart. I was so ashamed of the lack of faith and hope that I had.

There IS hope for these kids. Our prayers ARE being heard,and answered according to His sovereign will. I DO believe this without a shadow of a doubt. I just needed to be reminded.

"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."
Psalm 31:24



I think all of you read my primary blog ( http://www.guatemolly1.blogspot.com ). But in case you haven't, it's time you meet Claudia.

Week 1!!

We've almost finished week 1 of October Challenge. Thank you prayer warriors, and thank you sweet ones for commenting. It is so encouraging.

As I've been praying this past week the Lord has been turning my prayers not to provision of physical needs for the orphans (though this is important) but to their hearts.

Whenever I pray for Claudia, I always pray that the Lord would grow her relationship with Jesus. By God's grace, at the moment she is in an orphanage where she does get to learn about Christ. She goes to church and attends a fabulous Christian school. But she is one very fortunate little girl. This is not the norm for most of the orphans. Many of them have nobody to tell them about Jesus. We need to be praying for the salvation of these kids.

One thing the Lord has done in my heart since experiencing Guatemala has been an expansion of my focus. Before Guatemala, I always thought of orphans as being little babies. There are many many babies, but there are also orphans who are even 15 years old. There are teenage orphans who are searching for a purpose, hope, something to believe in. That thing is Christ. We need to be praying that God would place people in these kids lives who will share the hope of Jesus with them.

The human heart is a beautiful, tender, sensitive thing. We feel deep. Really deep. Children are no different. Many of these kids hearts have been bruised, broken, and pierced by abuse and neglect. Kids are even coming home to their families with stories of mistreatment from their orphanages- places that should provide shelter and refuge for them. These kids hearts are full of doubt, fear, and mistrust. They wonder what is wrong, why they don't have a family, what did they do to deserve this loneliness?? Their hearts are broken and hurting.

So as you go to the Father in prayer, pray for the binding of the brokenhearted, healing of the wounds that these children have received. The Father knows their hearts and their needs better than we ever can.

Thank you sweet prayer warriors. Together we will entrust these children to Him!

Challenge 1- October, 2009

Alright y'all here we go.

Challenge #1.

Are you ready???

This month's theme is prayer.

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Romans 12:10-12

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Matthew 18:19-20

For the next 30 days I'm committing to purposeful prayer for the orphans. God has shown me more and more recently the power of prayer, and how many precious opportunities I missed in the past because of my unbelief. I now see just how important that sweet union with Christ is when we come before Him, praise Him for who He is, and petition.

So for the month of October I am going to the feet of Jesus on behalf of these precious children.

There have been many times I have taken the plight of the orphans and refused to surrender, refused to trust them into the Father's arms, even though they were His to begin with.

I want to believe in God's plan for these children. I want to bring them to His feet in prayer- their past wounds, their present care, their futures, their adoptive families, the governments that are so messed up, the paperwork that holds them in bondage. What better place to put them into the arms of the Father who loves them more than I ever could??

31 days of prayer for these kids. Are you with me??

Welcome!!

Welcome!!! I am so glad you have stopped in and taken a peek to see what's going on here at This Next Generation. I have created this blog because I have a vision and a conviction. I believe that we are called to do something more for God's kingdom than we already are. I believe that we, guys and girls, old and young, are called to do something NOW. I believe that the call we have been given in James 1:27 that says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." is a command for everyone. There are 143 million orphans in this world and it breaks my heart to look at their faces and hold them in my arms. My life was turned around after I went to Guatemala in March of 2007. Since then I have gone back 3 times and plan on returning many more, hopefully someday with a little one in my arms. :) Yet... I am ashamed to look at my life and see how little I sacrifice for them.

I have a vision of people from THIS generation- teens and young adults- joining together for the orphans. I have a dream that God would burden many more hearts for these children, light many more fires, give people more passion for adoption and plight of the fatherless.

I don't know how it will happen, or when, or what it will look like. But I just know that there is more than this, and that God is calling me to much more than I am giving right now. So for now I just know that He has called me to start this blog, an idea He put in my head several months ago. Each month, I will present a challenge to myself that will make me be more mission-minded and orphan-focused. I'm asking you to join with me. The first one won't be too painful I promise, :) and I will be writing about that sometime this week, in time for me to start doing it on the first of the month.

I believe that there are people out there who will join together for these children. I believe that all it takes is God placing a burden on the hearts of His people. I believe that the Church was created for unity, and through that unity are we able to serve and minister together. I am hopeful of what God is going to do in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. In the end, may He be glorified.