August 2, 2006
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He Knows My Name
This past weekend, we went on a church retreat — Driving home, I told Sam that I felt like we went to two separate retreats in one. On one hand, we had a very meaningful time of connecting with God in meditative and contemplative prayer with the other adults in our congregation; and on the other, we lived vicariously through the youth advisors in the youth’s journey of learning God’s heart for the poor and oppressed who live in injustice.
Some takeaways:
- From my time alone with God, I was reminded, “Do not be afraid! The Lord is with you.” He is my Maker and He knows my name. I belong to Him.
- I also realized that I am having a hard time giving up “singlehood.” I had planned to be a single missionary for so long – and there just seems to be so much more glory in it — that to “give it up” is actually like a sacrifice to me. And I need to come to terms with it — I only have a few days left!!
So may I be like Mary who said, “May it be to me as You have said.”
- I’m giving up my identity as a “single” person, but I’m not giving up my identity as a child of God.
- In terms of the oppressed: Saturday night, the high schoolers were exposed to the reality of child prostitution in Cambodia. We watched a “60 Minutes” investigation, and it was absolutely appalling. How vile is it that American men travel to an impoverished place like SE Asia to have sex with 8 year olds??!!! It’s not that I’ve never known this before, but watching the video brought it all home again. It made me cry out in anger and sorrow — and in that moment, I was able to identify with God the Father. I thought, “That could be me.” And I thought, “That could be my children (daughters).” And I realized — every one of those girls is God’s daughters, His precious princesses. And He aches and aches with pain that these awful things are being done to these girls and asked of these girls. Eight years old! What were you doing when you were eight? Not prostituting yourself to get bread on the table, I’m sure! But what will be my response? We will be going to that part of the world one day. So the question is really real to us. He knows my name — yay for that — but He also knows their names as well…
Comments (1)
i wonder how many times we would have to magnify our emotions to this abhorrence to get a glimpse of God’s response and emotion. when will He demand justice on this earth?