Final Deliver and UNITE Linky

“SHOES!” The word erupted out of my mouth, like Kilauea, or the mountain I saw years ago in Guatemala, Volcan de Fuego, outside the city of Antigua.

I tried to string back the word, but my Spirit, was burning, as my husband spoke to the man on the other line, discussing what we could bring to the poor school-children of Peru when he went in two weeks.

“Shoes?….Shoes!!” I hear him echoing.

I wait, thinking, “There is no way, my husband is going to suggest buying shoes for 260 children.” But he does as he keeps talking.

And I wonder if his Spirit is like mine, wanting freedom to erupt, yet feeling safer building cities on mountain ready to explode?

He hangs up the phone. His face, serious. “I was thinking pencils?….Or backpacks.”

I realize the magnificience of my words, and start calculating numbers in my head. “How much is 260 pairs of shoes?”.

“That’s over 5,000! And that’s if we can get them for $20.00 a pair.” My practical husband answers before I get done multiplying.

“What was I thinking?” I quietly lash myself mentally for making such a broad, akward, outlandish promise to a guy we talked with while leaving the airport…last fall when we went to Peru.

Yes, I believe in a BIG God, one who sits like molten lava; feiry hot, wild and ferocious, able to take down towns and villages if He wants to…

But, this fire, it has also, kinda, sometimes concerned me. I mean, inside I know, I can’t control or dictate it, manage or maintain something larger than myself. I know…it’s wider and deeper than anything I can understand.

I was in Guatemala, doing ministry over two decades ago. It was hot, gecko’s climbed above the windows, at the close of a smoldering evening.

I rocked myself on a hammock, like a child, in awe of the villages we had visited that day. Standing in a wide open truck, greeting children who seemed awe-struck at the sight of our white faces.

But it was there, as evening came, earth cooled, the land was on the verge of falling fast asleep…I squinted across the space to see a bright, red scorching fire running down the mountain across from me.

“What in the world is that?” I inquired.

“Lava.” A local informed me.

At that moment, I remember feeling drawn to it, captivated, fearful and mezmerized by that fire burning in front of me. I couldn’t stop looking at it, for quite some time.

And He is like that. Isn’t He? Awe-some, filled with wonder and amazement.

Yet, His fire isn’t meant to craddle us to sleep, but fix our eyes to Him, draw, and intrigue us.

And it seemed like that…this mission.

My husband would leave for Peru in a few weeks, and we needed to bring something to the children we promised the man at the airport.

I had seen a bridge, heard the “yes” in my heart, knew what I needed to do, long before I stepped onto that land. Yet, what it’s easy to not recognize, is that God has put His plans deep in us, long before we see them visibly…

We don’t have to go searching for His will. It’ already in a us. A mustard seed waiting for fruition. 

“Shoes!” There it was. I said it!

Yet, over time, I had learned to hear His Spirit, discern what He was speaking, understood the difference between my voice and His and the enemies.

I grasps…He is a fire. An all consuming fire. Roaring. Fully alive in us.

Yes, I needed to just trust and obey.

“O.k. Sooo…it looks like we need to find 260 pair of leather-school shoes.”

My husband looks at me in disbelief.

“We don’t have money for these.” He reminds me.

“I know.” Agreeing.

Almost immediately, the idea of starting a GoFundMe campaign comes to mind. I get online and spent most of the rest of the night, writing for help to support us buying shoes for the children of Curuhausi.

Aprile 5th, we started a campaign, raising every penny we campaigned for in just 15 days.

Last Wednesday, my husband and I Facetimed Peru, as teachers sang, kids danced, a whole assembly and parents were present. The rest of the shoes we delivered at that event, for the school children of Curahuasi, Peru.

I have never been so in awe of God in my life!

He truly is a fire! He is Love! He is the God who He says He is, qualifying the unqualified,  providing for us as we step out in faith and do His will.

Please, won’t you take a moment and look into the faces of these children? They are the fruit of your generosity. Evidence that God is alive and moving.

Their faces represent the heart of the very gospel, a gospel that gave Jesus, in order to reach us, the most needy.

Now we can sacrifice and live lives of generosity, so the less fortunate, most desperate, can understand His beautiful fire that refines and runs down like lava into the crevasses of our hearts.

Through this experience, I have had to repent, wondering if God was able, for wanting to place Him as safe, or only as mathmatical and logical.

No, God always rewards faith. Comes to bring life and life most abundant. He is a God who gave, first His only Son, and then His grace, and glory to us, the undeserving and least suspecting.

Thank you for believing in our family, in His heart, for loving the children of Curahuasi, Peru.

We are walking bolder because of you!

Yes, our God lives….like a volcanic fire, burning in the souls…of lives who want to know His love.

“Shoes.” Just a word, just a tangible item….but a path He is using to point people to Him.

(Follow Rising Heart on Facebook, to learn more about how my husband and I are working to help needy children around the world)

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