Is She Priceless to You?
We sat there talking about justice. We hear this word. See it. Hear it’s opposite — injustice — thrown about in all sectors and spheres. Can I be honest? I haven’t always given it much thought. Do you? My friend is definitely justice oriented. By that I mean she is driven not just by a desire but by a drive to right what’s wrong. The words and their reality in action resonate with her at the place where she decides how she’ll live and give her life, and God is doing incredible things though her and her ministry at Mercy House Global. I wouldn’t describe myself that way. I am just now at 50 waking up to how deeply God wants us to care about this, and it “just happens to be” (as if it’s a coincidence, wink, wink) at the same time I am revising Chapter 7 of Holy His: 7 Secrets to Secure Hope in Insecure Times about the injustice Nehemiah confronts in Nehemiah 5. As I studied this weekend, I came across God’s definition of justice in scripture:
Justice = to keep the way of the Lord, for all His ways are justice (Gen.18:19 & Deut.32:4).
Where does justice start? With caring? Yes! But not just caring about people, because it’s easy to excuse apathy by the undeserving behavior of another. No, at some point, at least for me, it has to be because I care about God. His ways. His word. That’s the origin of justice: it finds its beginning in God. God’s ways which are inherent in Him, so they are eternal. Always have been always will be. We are just existing in His timeline and how we walk in His ways will determine the justice or injustice we bring to our time and hurting people all around us.
I’m beginning to realize how narrow my perspective is. How little I know, much because of how little I’ve either been exposed to or chosen to expose myself. It’s both. And as God expands my perspective to see the world through His eyes and His word, which means seeing the world through others’ stories and circumstances, I find myself increasingly humbled. Increasingly caring. Increasingly willing to do more of what God puts before me.
I may never have the same type of ministry as Kristen Welch, but I can come alongside her in what God has her doing, which is joining Him in what He is doing. For her, caring started when she went on a blog tour with Compassion International that took her to the slums of Kenya and wrecked her of her content middle-class life. For me it was meeting her. Reading her book, Rhinestone Jesus: Saying Yes to God When Sparkly, Safe Faith Is No Longer Enough. Hearing her heart. Seeing her live between the tension of her first world here and third world there and all the places she now travels to hire artisans and give hurting women dignified jobs in Jesus’ name.
If you’re still reading this, please know there is no condemnation from me! I am the worst of the worst of an example of someone who has lived a lot of her years simply caring about me and my comfort and pleasure. God is removing scales from my eyes and stones from my heart, and I am inviting you into a place of caring together. Today is #sheispriceless, a global giving day and a day I hope and pray you and I together can give enough for at least one rescue in Kenya — enough to sweep in and take one pregnant teenage girl out of the slums where she’s sold her body for food and into a Mercy House maternity home where she will be shown the love of Jesus and her and her baby will be given a future and a hope.
Will you come with me alongside Kristen as she raises $35,000 in one day through sheispricess.org to care for 4 pregnant girls they just rescued from the slum in Kenya and to rescue 2 more: to give them and their soon-to-be-born babies a future and a hope. Their mama’s too! The other option for them is likely continued prostitution, slavery, or death. They’ll hear the gospel, receive medical care, birth their baby in a hospital with quality medical care. They’ll live in a home with love and care and education and training. And you and I can come alongside Mercy House and make it possible. Maybe one person could write that entire check. Even better is the one who gives $1 alongside the one who gives $5 alongside the one who gives $10 and so one. And every $1 has just as much value and impact and message of “I care” as the next. Every $1 is a stand for justice. Together we can do this.
I am asking for 4 things:
Will you make a decision to care? Learn about Mercy House and the work they do. Learn about fair trade, ethical fashion and the manufacturing and supply chain practices of the brands you buy.
Will you give to this day of giving and help me raise enough to rescue one girl $1 at a time until we get to $5,800? Maybe consider some multiple of $14 since today is the 14th. What might God do through each of us as the one who said “Yes!”?
Will you forward this email to your contacts and invite them to join us?
Grab an image here and/or post your own #selflessselfie wearing pearls, and share our goal on social media, inviting others to join us. Use the social media share buttons below to share this post, or cut and paste any part of it. Maybe just copy and paste this:
Will you come with me alongside Mercy House Global as we raises $35,000 in one day through sheispricess.org to care for 4 pregnant girls they just rescued from the slum in Kenya and to rescue 2 more: to give them and their soon-to-be-born babies a future and a hope? Their mama’s too! The other option for them is likely continued prostitution, slavery, or death. They’ll hear the gospel, receive medical care, birth their baby in a hospital with quality medical care. They’ll live in a home with love and care and education and training. And you and I can come alongside Mercy House and make it possible. Maybe one person could write that entire check. Even better is the one who gives $1 alongside the one who gives $5 alongside the one who gives $10 and so one. And every $1 has just as much value and impact and message of “I care” as the next. Every $1 is a stand for justice. Together we can do this.
Thank you! From the bottom of my heart thank you. You matter and this matters and it is making a huge difference!!!
You are loved.
Shauna