Birthday Surprise. It's Nicole. part 2

Welcome back to Nicki's hope story.
Part 1 (click here) was a great read, yet I tell, part 2 will be even better! May the Lord speak mightily to you!
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[photo credit]

Here is a piece of God's hope story: 

She is eight years old. Her brown face contains a smile that can brighten the darkest of moments. Her big black eyes have potential to catch anyone’s attention, and keep it. She is timid at first glance but once she feels comfortable you have nothing more than a young girl full of joy and laughter and smiles dancing around your waist and holding onto your hand for dear life. She is smart, she is kind, and she is beautiful in every way. She has gone through much more difficult struggles in her short eight years than I have in my twenty-two. She is a daughter of the King. She does not know her earthly father, but she is learning to trust in her heavenly one. Her name is Alijati, she is from Kamonkoli, Uganda, and I am her sponsor.

The Lord has used this precious child to teach me lessons I never knew I needed to learn. Lessons on love that go beyond barriers that we put up around ourselves. Lessons on patience and trusting in our God in Heaven that promises to be our strength, our guide, and our help in times of trouble and need. But most importantly, a lesson on how important it is to be obedient to what the Lord is asking of you, in order to not miss out on the will He has for your life.

God had purposed for me and Jati to connect with each other, and because of this and the desire He placed in me to want to do something bigger than myself, her need and my ability intersected. I am able to provide food and education to a worthy child who would have not fully known these things otherwise. And it goes beyond that. In providing for her and being there for her, I am able to give her the opportunity to know Jesus and experience His love and hope in a tangible way; a way that she has never known because of the struggles she's dealt with.

I have my own dreams that start with love and the desire to glorify God, and end with wanting some precious brown faces in Uganda to know about their Father in Heaven who loves them and is intimately acquainted with them. Maybe your hope story isn't a needy child that you can provide for from across the world. Maybe it’s a stranger across the city or a sibling in the next room. My prayer is that our mighty God would strengthen and equip you to do what you may not even know He’s called you to do yet. Allow your ability and the need He places before you to intersect, so that He may be glorified. Open your eyes, open your heart, allow His love to flow through you and watch your hope story, which is really His, unfold right before you.

"We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our hope and our shield. 

In Him our hearts rejoice as we trust in His Holy name." Psalm 33:4 

photo of Nicki and Alijati, Uganda 2012

photo of Nicki and Alijati, Uganda 2012

Alijati is the beautiful girl wearing the white top. 

Daisy Merrick and You

 

After 6 surgeries, 22 rounds of chemotherapy and 2 courses of radiation, Daisy Love Merrick is facing cancer for the third time. She and her family are trusting in Jesus. But they are also in a battle for Daisy Love's life. Next steps include chemotherapy and possibly a stem cell transplant with progressive treatments in America and Israel. The estimated cost not covered by insurance will total close to half a million dollars, and because of this, a trust fund has been established where you and your family can lovingly give toward the cost of Daisy's care (see options on the left) or to The Daisy Merrick Trust by mail or at your local Chase Bank branch. Thank you for your love, support, and prayers for Daisy Love! -prayfordaisy.com

Daisy Merrick is a bubbly, joyful, and wacky little 8 year old. She loves playing with her friends, 
going to the beach, and has big aspirations of becoming an astronaut. 
Sounds pretty normal right?

Daisy’s life has been anything but normal. She’s been through 6 surgeries, 22 rounds of chemotherapy and 2 courses of radiation… and is battling cancer for the third time. 

For a limited time, 100% of the proceeds from the Blossom Breeze bracelet will go toThe Daisy Merrick Trust to help with the vast amount of medical and travel expenses. The Merrick family is currently seeking treatment for Daisy in Israel, and you can read about the trip on their BLOG.

Learn more about Daisy’s story, and find out how you can help HERE. Purchase the Blossom Breeze HERE. We’re praying for you Daisy! -The 31 Bits team

Addiction

Good Saturday to you!
I was so blessed and encouraged to read Francine Rivers' blog post this morning and without hesitation I am sharing it with you. May the Lord speak both wisdom and comfort to you. May He bless you abundantly.

Addiction
By Francine Rivers
Www.francinerivera.com

Upon our return from the Panama Cruise, Rick and I learned someone we love dearly had disappeared. We knew what that meant and our hearts sank. Some knew where he was out there in the night going through his own private hell. All we could do was wait and pray and hope the turn-around would come quickly and he wouldn’t die this time.

I’ve been told by recovering alcoholics that it’s the first drink that kills you. An alcoholic doesn’t start back at the beginning. An alcoholic starts where he/she left off and accelerates. Think of being on a slide. If you stop partway down and stop yourself, you’re still there. Lift your hands and down you go. Without the strength of God working in a person, giving up the things that kill us is impossible. To sum up the 12 step program: I can’t, God can, I think I’ll let Him.

Years back, I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t pay close attention to the dirty, disheveled man holding a sign at the entrance to the freeway. Now, I look for them. I make eye contact. Sometimes I have enough time (before the car behind me is honking) to hand them a bottle of water or a Christmas box.

Why do I see them now? I’ve experienced the anguish of wondering where my loved one is and whether I’ll ever see that person again this side of heaven. I’ve heard the stories of what people go through out there, drunk and alone, looking at a dumpster as a possible warm, dry place to sleep for the night.

Jesus said the poor are always among us. And so they are. Poor in ways beyond not having money.

I try not to worry, but some in my family say I have a worry gene and so it is a miserable default pattern in my life to fall back into it. I have a good imagination. That’s a blessing when I’m writing a story. It’s a curse when I’m imagining all the things that could be happening to someone I love who is out there on the mean streets, homeless, hurting and too ashamed to call for help. Every time the phone rang, my heart jumped. Night time calls always seem to bring bad news.

We are at war. In Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re also in a war here at home, and this war has countless fronts.

What do I do? I pray through my long list of friends who are going through the same thing I am right now. I pray for the many I know who are struggling with addictions; drugs, alcohol, computer games, pornography, food, work. Our nation breeds addiction. Sometimes I lay awake and go through the lines of David’s Psalm 23 or make an alphabetical list of the attributes of God.

And that’s what brings peace in the midst of the storm. Knowing God, remembering how deep and wide and high His love is for each of His children. Knowing Jesus lived out 33 years as a man who faced and overcame every temptation and now stands as our advocate before His Almighty Father who longs for us to return to Him.

Wherever my loved one is, God is there, too, waiting for surrender, ready to lift and restore. God loves my loved one far more than I do. God has a plan in all this and it isn’t to tear us to pieces, but to build us up, to give us a future and a hope.

I may not like the pain that comes with waiting, but it’s in the waiting that my faith grows.