mission: a house for LIFE

Every Christmastime the same picture does the rounds. 

And every time I see it, I am reminded once again…

That we live in a nation where we are exceedingly, abundantly blessed.

I am reminded that MY hard times…

Don’t even compare to that of our neighbors across the ocean.

I am reminded that even on my toughest of days.

I am blessed beyond measure.

My “needs”…

…and the DESPERATE NEEDS of most of the world’s population…

…are polar opposites.

I look around my home and I see God’s abundant blessings. We have clothes. We have food for each and every day. We have running water and electricity. My children have more than most children in the world have. We have shelter, heat, and cozy blankets to keep us warm. Anthony and I have our needs taken care of—even in the hard months when the bills mount up and we wonder, “How?”

Even when we think we’re lacking.

Even when money is tight.

I look at my family and I see the favor of God on our lives.

BLESSED!

With Christmas fast approaching, I have been feeling a stirring in my own heart.

A deep conviction.

We’re bombarded by a society which is constantly telling us we need more–we have to have the latest, the greatest, the biggest, and the best. Our kids are raised in a day and age in this country when more equals better.  Or latest equals best.  It’s all about the stuff!

WE DON’T NEED MORE STUFF!

We simply do not!

We need to give more, not get more.

The Bible tells us in Acts 20:35, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

As I read that verse over and over, two truths stand out. Yes, it is absolutely more of a blessing to give, than to receive. But in the same verse, Paul says that we must help the weak.

We MUST help the weak.

I have felt so convicted by my own selfishness to look only at providing for my own family this Christmastime.

And I forget about the weak–the ones who I don’t see every day.  The ones who, ashamedly, I try not think about as I spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on my own family once again this holiday season.

I realized how desperately we, as a family, fail to give back as much as we should. How easy it is to live within our comfortable four walls.

And forget…

Conviction requires a response!

It did not take long for the Lord to show me a great need—one that is so close to His heart. A need that urgently needs a helping hand from the body of Christ.

For the past few years I have followed the journey of Todd and Amy Block. I have been inspired by their commitment to the Lord and their obedience to follow Him—no matter where He leads. I have watched as they have grown their family through adoption and later moved their large family to serve at an orphanage in Guatemala. And recently, I have seen them take a huge leap of faith to say yes to the Father in a way most of us would say, “Thanks, but no thanks, Lord…send someone else!”  Or, “Thank you God for calling someone else and not giving me that ‘gift.'”

The Blocks have started a non-profit ministry to serve the people of Guatemala. Together with their nine beautiful children, and one other amazing missionary family, they have begun VILLAGE OF HOPE (partnering with Lifesong for Orphans and Project Hopeful).

Village of Hope is already serving the people of Guatemala with reckless abandon.

They love passionately.

They go where God sends them.

They live by faith alone.

And give sacrificially.

They never, ever turn a hungry belly away….

Nor a needy neighbor who needs them to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

They understand desperation.

Extreme poverty.

To many of us who live in the U.S, the conditions that human beings live in are almost unfathomable.

Impossible to wrap our human heads around.

How easy it is at Christmastime to forget that precious children will have nowhere to sleep.

And the only food they will have are the morsels they can scrounge from the local dump.

For any missionary living in a Third World country, on most days the dire needs they face can feel completely overwhelming.

They face desperation that most of us cannot wrap our heads around.

Yet, they choose to live a life abandoned to the will of their Father in heaven who sends them out. 

God has given the Block’s a big vision. In order to serve the children of Guatemala (which is closed for international adoption), they have begun the process of building a family-style complex to accommodate the weakest of the Father’s flock.

Their vision is to build homes where they can give the neediest orphans (those with HIV and other special needs) a family-type environment to live in. Each home will have loving house parents to care for and nurture these precious children.

The ones with no value in their own country.

The ones abandoned.

With nowhere to go.

“Helping the weak.”

The groundwork has already begun and Village of Hope is bringing the Good News to the people of this impoverished nation.

One person at a time.

Not all of us are called to go and serve with them there. But there IS a way that we can give back just a small portion of the BLESSING we have been given by GIVING to those who desperately need it.

Shelter.  A home.

Today I am asking you all to prayerfully consider partnering with PROJECT HOPEFUL and VILLAGE OF HOPE, Guatemala, in such an easy way.

A way that will make a life-changing difference in the life of a child who needs it most.

I’m calling this mission, “A HOUSE FOR LIFE.”

Why? Because my heart longs to help Village of Hope build one whole house to accommodate the children they come in contact with daily.  I ache for precious little children to have a place they can call home…

For LIFE.

And to save their LIVES.

The reality for children who live in that nation is that if they are born with any kind of special need (including HIV), they literally have nowhere to go! They are NOT allowed in schools and are often ostracized by their communities. I look at my darling children here at home who have special needs, and I cannot–CANNOT–imagine them without food, without shelter, without warm arms to hold them, and without a family to tell them how amazing they truly are.

Village of Hope longs to bring desperate children into their care! To give them a permanent place to call home…warm beds, food to fill their hungry bellies, and godly house parents to love them as their own.

But, according the laws of the land, they cannot do it until they have suitable accommodation!

It takes just 1200 bricks to build an entire house in Guatemala.

Each brick costs $25.

That’s $30,000 to build an entire house to accommodate many children, PLUS house parents.

What an easy, life-changing way for all of us to GIVE BACK this holiday season…to help Village of Hope to build an entire home!

A place where the most frowned upon children on earth can know that they belong—that they are wanted, loved, and cherished.

Would you please prayerfully consider joining my family as we partner with Village of Hope to build this House For Life? I know that $30,000 sounds like a whole lot of money. And it is. But in the Kingdom of God, seed is multiplied! God’s economy works!

We give, and He multiplies it…and multiplies it…and multiplies it.

This Christmas season, would you GIVE BACK with my family and PROJECT HOPEFUL?

Would you consider giving up just one small gift this Christmas—and giving it toward something that will have a lasting impact on the life of a child who needs it most?

A safe place to call home.

Buy just one brick for $25!

Or, buy one brick on behalf of each member of your family!

It will ALL add up and be something so beautiful as we give to the Lord .

And what a BLESSING for Village of Hope as they trust the Lord to complete the work HE has already started in Guatemala!

Thank you, friends! Thank you for being a part of a Christmas miracle for these sweet children.

All donations are tax deductible if given via the Chip-In. Funds will be received by Project Hopeful and every single dollar donated will go directly to Village of Hope–Guatemala.

Let’s GIVE BACK…one brick at a time…

Let’s BUILD A HOUSE this Christmas to give these children a HOME!

When you purchase one brick for $25, your name will be included to win one of the amazing prizes below.  For every additional brick you buy, you will get more entries into the drawing.

Here’s how this will work:

~~  Buy a brick for $25 and leave a comment on this post letting me know.  For one brick, you get one entry, for five bricks, you get five entries, etc.  

~~  Please share this anywhere you can! Share on your social networks and get an additional entry.  Please make sure you leave it as a separate comment right here on this post.

All winners will be drawn from the comments on this post!