I feel like one of those beauty queen contestants when I say this – but I really do want to change the world.  I am terrified to arrive at the end of my life and look back and see that my presence on this earth could be forgotten. So one of my frequent prayers is that the Lord would let me and my husband be a part of something extraordinary.   As Billy Foote so beautifully put it – we want to rescue the perishing, to care for the dying.  We want to lead people to Christ.  We want to encourage Believers.  We want to be a part of movements of God that are incredible.  There have been a few specific times in Justin and my ministry life where we knew that we were seeing the Lord do something extraordinary – and not only that – but we were allowed to be a part of it and we were being used during that time.  And we crave that again – we ask the Lord for it often.

One of the things that Justin and I do that we know will have impact for eternity is we sponsor children through Compassion International.  For about 5 years I have been a sponsor (Justin adopted them when he married me) – and have so far had one of my children graduate out of the Compassion program.  We have committed to continue sponsoring our children until they each graduate, and some of our children are very young, so by the end of our time with them – we will have written letters and paid for the schooling and Bible teaching for some of them for 14 years.  Some of our children are orphans and call us “Mother” and “Father” – it is incredibly humbling.  And we have 14 years to love on them and provide for them from across the world.   And it is amazing to think of the people who will be impacted by each of our sponsored children in their countries as they grow up and the immeasurable ripple effects of that sponsorship.   That is the kind of thing that we want to be about.  That is the “world changing” stuff that we are so wired to do.  Someday we hope to meet at least one of our sponsored children in person.  We want to introduce Grace and Bekah to their brothers and sisters around the world.   To raise them with a global consciousness and a heart for the widow and orphan.

So for now – that is how we are changing the world.  And we are keeping our eyes on our Father for other opportunities to be light in this dark world.  And we pray that when He calls us to something else – that we have the ears to hear, the eyes to see, and the will to obey.  Because I think that, little by little, we can change the world.  We can bring heaven to earth.  We can connect people to the Light of the world.   And our lives can matter.