Baggage

I know that there is one thing I have a lot of: baggage.  And, to a certain extent, we all still carry some of ours around.  But that’s not healthy, and it definitely isn’t what Christ wants for us.  He died for our sins, so that we wouldn’t have to lug that baggage around all the time like some of us do.  Tonight I realized that, although I have left most of my baggage at the foot of the cross, sometimes I find comfort in sifting through it… or just picking it back up again and taking it for a spin for old times’ sake.  But again, that is not what the God of all Creation desires for us.  He desires for us to live a life free of what was, and looking forward to a life of what is to come.  The moment we accept that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, the risen One, the Son of God, the Son of Man, etc., is the moment that we should be dropping our baggage on the crest of Calvary…. or at the very least, starting the process of dropping it all there.  Baggage is a nasty thing, and when it’s brought into relationships, be it a friendship or a special someone, it can really make things complicated.

Tonight, I realized that I’ve been sifting through my baggage a little, and maybe picking up a carry-on… just for the sake of having it again.  I’m not sure why exactly I’ve been looking back on the past, or why exactly I’ve been rummaging through all the trash, but I have.  And some of the things I start to dwell on take some sort of toll on my heart.  As many bad things that have come from this, there is one good thing that has come…  My desire to help those in need.  To help the desperate, the deserving, and the ones who aren’t really in any position to help themselves.

I got thinking today: this earthquake in Haiti, and all its aftershocks, have left thousands upon thousands of women and children without a male to protect them, or even a shelter to hide away in from the bad things.  At some point, someone over there is going to pick back up on the idea of indentured servants (which was already occurring widely throughout the country before the earthquake) and eventually pick back up on the sexual slave trade.  Eventually, those women and children may be subjected to things that no one should be subjected to.  Eventually, the slave trade is going to kick up into high gear.  What the country of Haiti is going to need desperately in the next few months and years is a sort of safe-house for women and children, particularly the little girls.  Already at risk of sexual abuse, being an indentured slave, and other things, these girls are at an even greater risk now that they don’t have homes, and in some cases – family.

Part of me really thinks that this is where my heart lies.  I want these children and young women to be safe.  The slave trade is such a despicable industry, and it does not to grow any larger than it already is.  I feel like if we could just get a safe-house there in Port-au-Prince, or some other major city, or even a small town, then the girls would have a chance.  And if this safe-house could be a Rapha House, that would be even more wonderful.  Right now, I’m all for going over there and doing what I can to help these girls, young and not so young.  I fear for their innocence being stolen, and it hurts my heart to think about it all.  I have a special place in my heart for roughed up kids, and I feel like the whole country of Haiti is pretty roughed up.  It was pretty roughed up before that horrible earthquake.  I have faith though — I know that Yahweh will take care of His children, and that Haiti will, in time, see the glory of the LORD.

Learn to do right!  Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.  Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:17

Please let your prayers include Haiti, and all of its people.  Please pray for the children, for the young adults, for the middle aged men and women, and for the elderly.  Please pray for the orphans, and the widows, and the widowers.  Please pray for the rescue workers, for the food distributors, for the military.  Please pray for the people of the world to see Haiti’s need, and to feel compelled to do something.  Please pray for the people of Haiti to not have hardened hearts against the Lord, or against their brothers and sisters.  Please pray for the people of Haiti to be strong, and lean on one another for support.  Please pray for those who will forge their own path in wickedness, doing things for their own gain.  Please pray that the Lord rain down his blessings on this small country, and that His protective hand cover them.  Please pray that the God who is loving, caring, redemptive take care of these people and the people helping them.  Please pray that the God of restoration restore this country, that He lift it up to a higher place.

Please pray for the people of the world tonight who are sifting through their baggage, or debating on whether or not to give it up, or picking it back up again for the sake of picking it back up.  Please pray for yourself, that you may have the courage and the trust in the Lord to lay your baggage, and leave it, at the foot of the cross.

Please pray for me.

In Christ,
Megan

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/haiti/article/751540–danger-grows-for-haitian-girls-amid-chaos

http://www.raphahouse.org/