If you’ve got 5 minutes to spare and wonder if God is still in the miracle-working business,…take a break and read this beautiful TRUE story.

“The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburn Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting etc and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19 a terrible rainstorm hit the area and lasted two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church to assess the damage. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit.  He cleaned up the mess and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed a local business was having a sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory coloured tablecloth with exquisite crochet work, fine colours and a Cross embroidered right in the centre. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall, so he bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman, running from the opposite direction towards him, was trying to catch the bus and missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder and hangers etc and put the tablecloth up as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire area.

The he noticed the woman walking down the centre aisle. Her face was like a sheet…”Pastor” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?” The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials EBG were crocheted there. They were. These were the initial of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35years before, in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the cloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were wealthy people living in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week, but was captured and sent to prison. She never saw him again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made him keep it for the church. He insisted on driving her home. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn to work in her cleaning job.

The Christmas Eve service went ahead and was wonderful. The church was full and the music and worship great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said they would return.

One older man whom the pastor didn’t recognise from the neighbourhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare straight ahead.

When the pastor went to see if he was ok, the man asked him where he had got the tablecloth that was on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they  lived in Austria. He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and that he was arrested and put in prison. He never saw his wife or his home again in the 35 years since.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a short drive. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door and saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

When you watch horrific videos like the one I have posted here, you can feel such a sense of loss and distress that you wonder, “What can I do?” It seems like the problem is just too big, where do you start?

By fostering a child…giving them a loving home. By being aware of those children in your community who seem to be slipping through the cracks with noone watching over them. By being responsive to a child instead of dismissing them….stopping in your busy day and recognising the small voices that look up to you daily.

It might not look like much to you…but it can mean the world of difference to them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E1rKYrP_DY

My heart bleeds tonight for a 12-year old and 9-year old boy, who are being removed once again from the birth parent’s home. This will be the FOURTH time in their lives that they have been taken from violence and destruction and given to strangers.

As the brothers of the girls in our care, we had first option to take them on in our home. With six children already, and a home that cannot accommodate any more children, I had to say no to the plea from the caseworker.  How did it make me feel?  Like I had let them down, not done enough to help.  So many thoughts ran through my head…how could I make it work? where would I put them? What does this mean for their sisters? (the possibility of the eldest boy repeating the behaviour of the father on the girls). For me there was no option but to decline.

Foster care is not a lifetime commitment to a child…it is a commitment to being meaningful in a child’s life.  And I pray tonight, that these little boys, who have been thrown into a battle they are too young to face, find carers that will take them in and love them through the painful healing process, through their aggression and anger at a society that has failed them.

When many seemingly random events occur within a space of a few short hours, I know that God is trying to reveal something to me.  So I take notice and wait on His whisper…and it usually comes in the middle of the night when I’m lying awake unable to sleep!

I was reflecting on the parable of the lost son – Luke 15:11-32. How the father threw a party to welcome his lost son home, and the other son got pretty upset that he had been there with his dad the whole time and had not been thrown a party for all his hard work.

When God wants to show me something, it’s usually through a question. I felt him say “what would have happened next/after the party was over?” I reckon what would have happened next is that the father would have let his son have a few days of settling in, then he would have sat the lost son down and said, “Right now you’re back, do you want to continue to be a guest, or do you want to become an integral part of this family?”

Because guests that come into our home are served and honoured, we love them and treat them well – but there is the limit. Family members on the other hand get it all…They get the blessing, everything that is ours is theirs, they get unconditional love, they are showered with our praise, inspired and encouraged to live their God-given destinies, disciplined in love, financed and equipped, we stand and enclose them with our armour through their battles, and we never let up or give up. 

But along with the blessings, comes work. A family member is expected to put family as a priority, to sacrifice for each other, to serve the guests, to pitch in when the work is on, and to have our back at all times. It is an intimate, tight-knit circle that stands strong against everything the enemy tries to throw at it.

Family is the vehicle that God has given us to model to the world His love and to do it with any amount of success means working at it constantly. It isn’t easy, but BOY IS IT WORTH IT! So I have challenged my family this week to think about where they stand…would they be content to be treated as guests – loved and served to a point, or do they want us as a family to break through to a greater level of intimacy as we weave together our family tapestry. The choice is ours to make.

My eldest daughter is engaged to the most wonderful, gorgeous, man…and next April, we get to transform our backyard into a wedding wonderland!! The challenge is to do it all on a tight budget, and make the day breathtakingly beautiful for our princess bride. I have been collecting great pictures of wedding ideas for ages, and if you know of any great blogs or places I should be visiting for inspiration, please give me a shout out!!

These are just two of the many beautiful ideas I’ve seen so far – I apologise to the person who did this work that I cannot credit you with it!

My daughters were so helpful in arranging a beautiful fairy party for our foster-daughter’s 6th birthday. It was the first party we had for her as she had only just arrived at our home when she turned five.  She had such a wonderful day with her new school friends.  The case is going through the courts at present to hopefully grant us permanent custody of the two girls. Life is super busy…but crazy fun and we wouldn’t have it any other way!! We just pray for strength daily to get through it all.

We are excited to be planning a missions trip to Uganda in early 2010, to build the first stages of a hospital that will help acid burn victims, HIV positive people, and the thousands of poor who cannot access medical help in this country.

Frank and Michele Heyward www.comeuganda.org have been based in Uganda for 10 years, and in that time have built three schools, planted over 29 churches, saved thousands of orphaned children, and ministered to many thousands of sick and ill people. The work they do goes largely unnoticed…until today!

Everything we do with the children who make Christmas River home is being repeated in countries throughout the world. Simple people who love God, wanting to show that love in practical ways and love His people…no matter colour, race or religion.

We are such a blessed nation (anyone not living in a third world country is RICH).

My You Tube link does not seem to be working, so if you would like to view the promo forthe trip, please go to www.youtube.com.au and type in the search bar Uganda Building Trip 2010.

Blessings,

Shani

The issues youth face today are so complex, so many issues that were not around 5 years ago, let alone 10 or 20 when we were teens. So how do we reach them with a message of hope? With a word of encouragement, a knowing that they are not alone in their journey. The way our family reaches out is to invite and include everyone to join us for days of tennis, or a BBQ in the backyard…what’s a bit of clean-up compared to seeing the joy on their faces after a day spent with new friends, their wide smiles are more than payment.

Probably there is no greater way for youth to feel they belong though, than by other young men and women getting around them..speaking into their lives and loving them through whatever they are facing.

I am proud to know a group of young men who are doing just that through music. Their songs reflect many of the problems they have faced, and that their fans are going through, and the lyrics bring encouragement, solidarity, release, even forgiveness into the picture.

If you have a teen who is struggling with issues that seem beyond them, or simply want to know more about Tribal, and the awesome young men who make up the band, then head over to their website….www.tribaltime.com.au and take a look around.

Their songs have placed consistently in the top 5 in the MusicOz awards here in Australia, and they have ministered to many thousands of answer-seeking youth locally, nationally and internationally.

I am an unashamed raving FAN of TRIBAL!

If the recent news story about a seven year old girl that was so malnourished, abused and neglected that she only weighed 9 kilos when found by authorities does not make you cry, you might need to check if your heart is still beating.

This innocent child suffered at the hands of her parents, and when she was found, there was black vomit and bull-ants coming out of her mouth. The parents are standing trial as I write, but this child is gone forever.

We are currently fighting for our foster children…and there are some days where the 5-year old’s behaviour is so challenging I begin to wonder if it’s really worth it. Maybe we should just let them go back to their birth parents to deal with their issues.

Then a story hits me like this poor little girl, and I am left reeling. Every day that our foster daughters are with us, is another day they are safe from a violent, mentally ill father. Every day they get a shot at life, really living in the freedom that Jesus has brought. They smile and laugh, free from pain, suffering and abuse.

Even amidst the increasing threats from the birth father towards us, we stand firm in the knowledge that these girls are in the very best place they can be.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

IT IS SO WORTH IT!

Even through some of the worst days of our lives, God showed up in a big way. It wasn’t that He rescued us from the fiery trials that we were battling, but we knew He was with us in them. He never left us…and many times showed up in amazing ways to remind us of His passionate, unending love for us. Like these sunsets over our country home, the colours so brilliant they are blinding, His presence in these photos is awe-inspiring. He put on this show just for me today I reckon, painted a picture with His hands to bring me joy.