It is absolutely, awesomely incredible to see the changes that the Lord is instilling in me; in fact, God's presence has never been more visible in my life, my family's lives, and my church's life until just here recently. Man, things are really starting to spark, and I'm anxious to see the fire build.
There have been several things weighing on my heart recently, and I can't even begin to scratch the surface of what all God has placed there upon me.
A few weeks ago, I started reading a book called "The Lost Art of True Beauty" by Leslie Ludy, and she has really opened my eyes to the world beyond ME, someone I find myself getting too wrapped up in each and every day. As a young woman, I have been searching for ways to get passed all the materialistic, vain thoughts and pressures of the secular world and find true beauty that can only come from Christ. In today's society, it's so hard to escape from all the pressures of achieving beauty and making it last. Think about all the things we as women go through just to look beautiful in the world's eyes. Losing weight. Dyeing our hair. Changing outfits 6 times before walking out of the house. Taking diet pills. Going to the tanning bed. Injecting botulism toxin, the most DEADLY poison on the planent, (aka BOTOX)into our faces to reduce wrinkles. And all this for what? So we'll entice other men besides our boyfriends/husbands? To be the center of attention? To look prettier than other women who we consider to be our very best friends? But if you stop and think about it, today's woman is no different and faces no more difficult circumstances than women of past generations, centuries, and millenia have faced. Foot binding, corsets, and lip plates are just a few examples of practices that women have endured over the course of human life.
As I was studying Leslie Ludy's book, I noticed that she kept reiterating selflessness as a mark of a truly beautiful woman. From her book, I was directed to her website, www.setapartgirl.com, and found that a lot of her work goes into helping and advocating for the impoverished, the hungry, orphans, and young women and girls who are forced into prostitution or who have been kidnapped into the sex trafficking industry. Some of the video links and articles that I read literally broke my heart, and I found myself crying out to God for these helpless women and children. My heart aches for these people.
All I can think about is that I'm a young woman about to receive a college degree, living in the most abundantly blessed country in the world, with the freedom to love and marry whomever I choose, without ever worrying where my next meal or drink of water will come from, and who lays down to sleep every night in my own air-conditioned (or heated) bedroom beneath a strong, tin roof. I have over 300 channels of satellite TV in my own room, a closet literally over-flowing with clothes and shoes, and books of my choosing strewn all over the room. And yet, to top it all off, I find myself constantly complaining about my "hard" life--over the silliest, most petty things, like school, not having the most fashionable wardrobe, and my job. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?
Some of the best, most influential books we read or sermons we hear are the ones that make us the maddest, simply because they point out our own flaws and sins. As people who sin constantly, we need that extra accountability--that extra person there to help us see what we're doing wrong and what we could do to do better. I am so thankful for Leslie Ludy and her study. She's helped me realize just how selfish and spoiled I really am.
Since beginning her book and after going on her website, I have been asking God for guidance on how I might become selfless. I have felt utterly helpless in helping the world, and so I've really been digging deep to find what it is that the Lord wants me to do. During all this, a Christian radio station that I listen to hosted a Compassion International child sponsorship drive just a few days ago. I thought to myself--maybe, just maybe--this was God's answer to all my prayers. In between classes one day, I went online and investigated the organization's website--just to check for legitimacy--and decided to look through the list of children who needed sponsors. Because I have felt a strong gravitation toward Cambodia, Thailand, and India (due to the booming sex trafficking industry in those countries), I wanted to search for a young girl there to support. Some of these young girls are as young as 6, 7, and 8 years old, and I become absolute enraged at the depravity of this world when I think of my own niece--who is 8--and how if she lived in one of these Asian countries, she might be in a brothel right now waiting to solicit a local or tourist. With that in mind, I narrowed my search to an Indian, 8-year-old female. I found a young girl, read her profile, and felt confident that the Lord was calling me and K. to support her. As I scrolled back up to the top of the screen, I happened to look at her name again. To my surprise and literal jaw-dropping shock, this young girl and I share the same last name! To think that a white, Kentucky girl like me-- with one of the most unique last names I've ever heard--could share a last name with a young Indian girl on the opposite side of the world! I knew from then on, from that moment of the metaphorical red, neon arrow pointing to that little girl on my screen, that this was God's answer to my prayers. And so, K. and I have decided to sponsor this precious little girl in India, and we're more than excited to start the process! I know that it's goinng to be a truly amazing experience that K. and I will treasure for the rest of our lives.
I say all this to encourage you to look beyond yourself and evaluate your own selflessness. I have noticed that in my own life, I have begun to experience more joy and happiness out of thinking less of myself and valuing others as more important. I am not saying that you have to sponsor a child to become selfless; in fact, there are many ways that we can all do this in our everyday lives. Send a card to someone you appreciate and often take for granted. Babysit for a couple who needs a night out. Lend someone a quarter at a vending machine. Sometimes, the simplest acts of kindness mean the most to us. Leslie Ludy mentions in her book that she calls these acts "rainbow sprinkles" on top of the ice cream: they brighten someone's ice cream eating experience just by being that little extra something on top.
This story is just one of the many things that the Lord has placed on my heart. I'm anxiously waiting to see what He is going to do from this day forward. The best is yet to come...
