I Want to Love Like That.....

When we went to Ethiopia we knew we would see poverty and need on a level we don't begin to experience in America. We knew we would have the opportunity give to those in need. We knew God was going to touch our hearts and change us through our time there. What I didn't expect was to fall in love so quickly and so deeply with the country and it's people.




The first day we were in country we were blessed to do some touring in the North. We hiked a gorge that was breathtaking. Not just for it's beauty but also for the altitude. It was after that hike that we visited the Debro Labanos Monastery. It is known as the holiest Orthodox Christian church in Ethiopia. All the way from Addis we saw people walking on the road, many headed to this church. You see, it was Palm Sunday. Orthodox Christians were gathering there for a service that was going to begin at 9 pm and finish at 9 am. The priest who was our guide shared with us that the church would be filled with people standing with nothing but a staff to hold them up. All just to celebrate Palm Sunday. It was humbling. Do I treasure God enough to walk that far and stand that long? Do I love Him like that?



It was easy to find people in need at the Monastery. Many were sleeping under tarps around the church. We met one little girl and her mother who were living there. Such beauty, such hope, such joy.



When we returned to Addis, we did some shopping. Once again, it was easy to find people in need. Nursing mothers begging for anything we could give, boys selling gum and carved wooden toothbrushes. We so wanted to help them all but we just couldn't. It broke our hearts to have to walk away. Could we ever make a difference? Yet again we were faced with great need yet joy and hope still reigned in many of their hearts.

Fast forward to our last day in Ethiopia. This was the day we met the Compassion child we have been sponsoring for six years. I have to say that writing that monthly check has never been a struggle for us. We have gotten letters from him thanking us but to hear from him, face to face, how much it has meant to him and his family was priceless. I have never seen a 15 year old smile so much! It was then that we realized that we were making a difference to one boy in Ethiopia.

Click here to visit Compassion's website: http://www.compassion.com/

So here I sit, back home in one of the richest countries in the world, wondering how else God can use a simple housewife to make a difference to even one person. I want to love enough to give it all to Christ. To truly love "the least of these" enough to give whatever He asks. What that is I'm not sure, but I'm praying that when He shows me, I listen.