June 10, 2010

It's a BOY! (well, boyS!!!)

That's right - BOYS!!  I'm so excited to annouce that the Father's House is going to be accepting eight, 5-8yr old boys this fall!  These boys have been rescued from a life of slavery on Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world.
Here's a day in the life of a child slave on the lake:
Get up before the sun comes up, eat a meal of mush (if they're lucky).  Put the boat in the water climb in and paddle away.  The younger ones - 4 or 5 years old - are responsible for keeping the leaking boat from sinking.  They get to spend their 10-hour day scooping water from the bottom of the boat.  The older boys get tossed into the black waters of Lake Volta and made to go into the deep darkness and search for the tree branches the fishing net is stuck on and hope they can untangle it before they drown.  If they can't and they resurface without fixing the snare, they face a beating.  If they don't have enough breath to do it, or if they meet a crocodile or eel, the master has tied a rope around their waste so he can hoist the body out of the water.  It's not only boys.  There are girls too.  Girls that are forced to do things that little girls shouldn't have to do.  At the end of their 8-10 hour day the children go home and sleep outside.  On the dirt.  With the scorpions and other creepy-crawlies that call Africa home.
These precious children, starting at age 4 and going all the way up to their teenage years, know no other life.  Their parents have probably sold them for about $20 because they couldn't keep food on the table.  The masters will beat the children into submission to get them to do work that shouldn't be forced upon children that should be in preschool or kindergarten.

But, with the help of George (seen in the video from and older post below) some of these children can see a light at the end of their very dark tunnel.  George has been rescuing these kids and, with the help of the Touch A Life Foundation, and many others, has been sending them to orphanages.  The only trouble is - they're running out of room.  They continue to rescue kids, but they are running out of places to house them.  The Touch A Life Foundation alone has rescued 300 slaves with the help of George, and this fall, The Father's House will become a new haven for these precious kids.  We're starting small, with only 8 kids for now.  These will be the first kids that Father's House supports full-time.  We will be looking for sponsors for the kids and workers for the orphanage as well.  Once we get in the groove of taking care of these boys, we'll be able to take some more!
How exciting is it to be impacting the Kingdom like this?!  Sharing God's unending love and, in turn, teaching the kids to share the love as well.  What. An. Amazing. Calling.  And I'm SO excited to be a part of it all.
A few months ago I was feeling very unsatisfied with my ordinary life, and now I'm really feeling 'full'.  Full with God's love, His purpose and His calling on my life.  I am living this Scripture that I read the other day.  I can't get it out of my head: There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (Romans 5:3-5 MSG)

I'm SO excited to see what God will do NEXT!!!!

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