I know you’ve heard me say it before, but when the Lord moved on James’ heart to write:
“Pure and undefiled religion before God is this:
to care for the orphan and widow”
James 1:27
He could have said,
Pure religion is to be a pastor.
or
Pure religion is to be married to a pastor.
or
Pure religion is to be a school teacher.
or
Pure religion is to help save the whales.
or
Pure religion is to be a firefighter.
or
Pure religion is to be worship leader.
or
Pure religion is to pray for the orphan and widow.
But He didn’t say any of those at all
{although they are all really nice things}.
He was real clear
and
he said it really, really simply.
And sweet friends, it can’t be misunderstood.
He said that pure religion was to care for the orphan and widow.
It’s that easy.
Or actually, is it?
Caring is an action verb.
If I just prayed for my kids they would be hungry, not clothed, not bathed and actually Ruby would not survive.
They each require you and I to actively care for them.
They require things like feeding, clothing, protecting, nurturing, watching out for, pray over them, teaching them how to live life safely, and all the rest.
So when it comes to caring for the orphans….
one of the extremely practical and super easy and very tangible ways
we show we care is to help others bring some home.
Today we get to “meet” several families who regularly stop in at our Place Called Simplicity to visit…and ya’ know the ol’ sayin’….”any friend of yours is a friend of mine”….
Actually two of the families I’ve had the privilege of hugging necks and hanging out with. One family, Sean and Jessica Onions, used to attend our church when we pastored in Durango. In fact Jessica made Autumn and Karl’s wedding cake. And just between you and me {haha} we are trying to talk Sean and Jessica into flying out of Phoenix when they go to Ch*na so they can stay at our home and we can be their mammouth cheering squad/Welcome Home committee when they return.
Jenny and JD {at Our Plans Multiplied} hung out with us when they visited Durango to see their son who was attending our church internship program. We had a blast together!
I’m confidant the other families are equally as amazing – I just wish I could’ve already hugged their necks as well.
So there you have it…Let’s pool our resources together and help these families get their treasures home!
And ya’ know what?
God will bless all of us abundantly for doing so – that’s a promise He makes!
So let’s bring ’em home – TOGETHER!
If you would like to participate, please read yesterday’s post. It’s very self-explanatory….and all you eager ones, who commented the answers to the questionnaires – you made me giggle…..you got a little ahead of yourselves and didn’t finish reading the post….TODAY is the day of the link up silly-willies….*still giggling*
Hi Linny – I have only done a few link ups. I am not sure where I am suppose to link up. I have done my post of the questionnaire. How do I link up? Many thanks for your heart and for doing this for all of us close to bringing our treasures home!
oops – Linny – I now see the link up! Thanks!
Thank you, Linny. This is really a beyond brilliant idea.
Jenny
http://www.ourplansmultiplied.blogspot.
(I'm probably the only one who would have qualified for this one and the previous two child one.) Crazy times! Gabriel graduated from Boot Camp this morning – JD and the girls are in Chicago and driving home tomorrow 🙂
Thanks for posting info on these families!
I am only curious…why do you leave out the last part of James 1:27?
Thanks!!
Annie in CA
I think your ministry to the orphans is great. I'm just wondering what you do with the rest of that verse….the widow. I see all kinds of blogs that talk about helping the orphan, but no one hardly mentions what things could be done to help the widow. I'd like to do both but am at a loss because no one seems to follow up with that part of the verse. Maybe your readers have some ideas?
Catherine– we do meals for a woman in our church, she is 99 (last week) and lives with her son who doesn't cook, so 3 times a week someone from church makes a meal and takes it to them- they have enough to usually eat 2 days on. It's no big deal for this mom of many to add 2-3 extra servings of whatever we are having and take it over to them once or twice a month. We also learned of a family we knew that the hubby was in accident and died- he was young, left little ones, wife was very shy– we took her groceries, (bought with couponing) and meals for 6 weeks, once a week, till she said they were good and had gotten some things (financially) sorted out, but the need is there if we look, ask, find- often the widows won't ask:(
Catherine, I volunteer for a wonderful maternity home and crisis pregnancy center. I personally feel that single mothers could be considered the modern day widows. I would also suggest that local nursing homes are excited to have families coming to sing, play instruments, do crafts or just visit with the residents. There are many who receive no visitors throughout the year and would love to talk about their lives.
Thank you, Linny, for this exposure. And I want to say a huge thank you to those who have been able to donate. I'm very touched. May God richly bless you all in return.