Starving

Now that I am back to reading and catching up on blogs I just sat down to read one of my favorites. http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com if you get a chance read it. In one of her recent post she shares about a young girl that is dying from starvation. She is 23 years old and weighs about the same as Emma Sanders who is 2 1/2. It breaks my heart.

Last night I went to the grocery store. As I was standing in line I read an email from a precious friend telling me to read the kisses from katie blog about the starving girl. As I moved forward in the line and my groceries started to be rung up the girl working there says this, "You know, it seems like grocery shopping has become a hobby to some people." I am not sure if she was talking directly to me or speaking of something else she saw but I took this word straight from the Lord. I think for me it was a lesson on not taking things for granted. There were certainly things in my basket that were not a need. Things that I bought because I knew it would bring smiles to my kids faces but really had nothing to do with their nutritional need. A hobby. Very convicting.

Then I started to think about starvation and what that means. This morning as I was praying and thinking through the past blog read and conversation I thought, I don't know anyone who is starving. Not anyone who will die because they don't have enough food. But then the Lord put this on my heart. You do know people who are starving. Not from the standpoint of physical food but spiritually starving. People who are constantly filling themselves with things that they think will make them feel full. Clothes, cars, jewelry, relationships, etc...all to find that it doesn't satisfy. From the outside they appear very full but inside they are discontent, unhappy, bitter, and hungry. And if you are a believer in Jesus then we know what does satisfy, what does fill you up. The bread of life.

In the last line of the email that my friend sent me about Katie's blog she said, "When are we going to Africa?" As much as I would love to hop on a plane tomorrow and go help with Katie's ministry or any other one there, I know that for now that can't happen. So what to do? Well, I think our response should be twofold. 1. Pray, send money, and help how we can from here to Katie's ministry and others like it. 2. Help the starving people you know here. We all know them, they are in our schools, workplaces, families, and even in our churches. Seek them out and show them that there is someone that fills even the deepest hunger.