Sunday, June 13, 2010

just one.

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com

A few days ago i found this blog and i am so thankful that i did.

It's called The Journey and is the blog of a 21 year old girl that lives in Uganda.

I'm not sure what drew me to begin reading, maybe it was the fact that where we lived in Uganda wasn't too far from where she lives now. i know the smells she describes, i can picture the villages in my mind, the children with ragged shirts and bare feet, the red dirt that sticks to sweaty skin, white teeth grins from dark faces, the Ugandan spirit. i remember it all so vividly,

but what drew me to start reading her blog from the beginning more than all of that was her heart. She went to Uganda as an 18 year old girl to teach at an orphanage for one year. She is now a 21 year old mother of 14 adopted daughters and a myriad (in the 100's) of other kids that receive love (practical love, ie. medical care, funds for school, meals, baths, etc.) from her on a daily basis. she has made a life there. uganda has become her home. it's an amazing story. a story so fascinating that i've spent the better part of the last two days reading her entire archives, choked up and bleary-eyed. the emotion is raw and you can't help but be affected.

I am riveted by her story, not because it is such an extreme sacrifice (although it is), and not because it causes a guilt in me for not doing more, but because it shows me just how much one person can change the world. it gives me hope and inspires me to love better and more.

i read a quote this weekend by mother teresa that said,
"If you can't feed one hundred people, then feed just one."

it made me feel good - for a moment, in the light of this adoption. in a sense, we are feeding one.
but that word "just" sticks out like a sore thumb to me.
he is one but he will be "just" one -
one of so many...

i could list off the statistics from Ethiopia, or Uganda. they are staggering. they don't negate the "one" i am being summoned to love, but it does put my love for one into perspective.

katie is feeding the 100's. that is her calling in Uganda.
I, Lord willing, will feed one. and maybe one again. and again - (if we are given the privilege we will indeed take it, over and over and over again.)

but oh, may the suffering of the globe open our eyes to action. may this girl's humble, honest life inspire action and faith. she is just one, feeding multitudes.
she is sharing the gospel of Jesus in a way more than words.

it is that "just one" over and over that changes the landscape of the world.

may we all have an impact on "just one" again and again and again.

2 comments:

Amie said...

oh my goodness, this girl is amazing. I can't stop reading. Wow, I am blown away.....

Bare Bonsey said...

What an amazing testimony of obedience. To be used by God at such a young age, and in such a great way. What really holds us back?

 
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