Unconventional Advocacy

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Have you ever struggled with feeling insignificant?  Like the work you do isn’t important?  Ever become depressed thinking about all of the horrible things happening in our country and around the world?  Maybe you have a job that you really enjoy but feel guilty sometimes because you’re not saving literal lives or solving world crises.  Or you have a job that you don’t love all of the time and there are causes that are really important to you but you need to you know, pay bills and put food on your table, so you can’t just up and quit.  I believe it’s a tactic of the enemy to make us compare our callings and become paralyzed from feeling unimportant.  Either we feel like what we’re doing really doesn’t matter or we get overwhelmed by the vast number of issues in the world that we could champion.  We should absolutely make ourselves aware of things going on in our community and around the world.  We cannot just bury our heads in the sand because learning about the plight of orphans or people living in slavery or the refugee crisis in the Middle East is hard and sad.  But the truth is that whether we’re talking about racialization in the United States, human trafficking both here and abroad, or students from wealthy families who struggle with depression and anxiety because their identity is so wrapped up in material possessions and accomplishments, it all breaks God’s heart. 
Whether you’re a stay at home mom with tiny children clinging to you at all hours of the day, or working a corporate job to support your family, you can do something.  Maybe hopping on a plane to serve in Uganda isn’t feasible right now in this season of your life.  But you can educate yourself on issues going on here in our area and around the world and organizations that are helping to resolve these issues.  You can raise awareness by bringing these issues and organizations into conversation at play groups or while going out to lunch with coworkers.  My younger sister is a teacher, with all of the limited time and resources that go with that career.  But she uses her skills and interest in graphic design to serve a local crisis pregnancy center by making images they can use in their campaigns.  Advocacy and activism doesn’t always look like going abroad or giving money, though both of those things are great and if you can, partner in that way too. 
To be honest, I have struggled at times feeling like what I’m doing isn’t really making that much of an impact in the grand scheme of all that is wrong in our world today.  But that’s such a lie from the enemy!  God has uniquely gifted me, given me specific interests and passions, and orchestrated my life in such a way to minister to students in Loudoun County and those around me.  I get to encourage them to grow in their relationship with Christ and challenge them to see the world around them differently because I was once in their shoes.  And that’s something.  Last Thursday afternoon I was hanging out with the huddle at Farmwell Station Middle School as 8th grader Lizzie led a devotion on the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13.  She led a beautiful discussion with the students, most of whom are 6th graders.  They talked about what kind of soil they are experiencing in their lives right now, and many admitted to being among the thorns.  They want to believe the Bible and who God says He is, but they get overwhelmed with stress from school and expectations placed on them, either by teachers, parents, or themselves.  They encouraged each other to pray, talk to their parents or youth leaders about their doubts, and surround themselves with positive friends who will influence them to make good choices and be “fertilizer” for the Word of God that is planted in their hearts.  Seriously.  I’m not exaggerating anything.  This was the conversation these 11 – 13 year olds were having after school.  How did I get so lucky as to be a part of this?!
No, I’m not solving world hunger, but maybe one of the students I get to encourage on a weekly basis will grow up to do just that!  And maybe you and your spouse have not personally felt God’s call to adopt, because I do believe that adoption is a calling.  But you can support and encourage friends who might be in the middle of that process.  And maybe, by discipling your biological children every day and teaching them to love and obey Jesus, you will someday be an adoptive grandparent!  The truth is that if we have a relationship with Jesus, we are called to serve and obey Him.  But that is going to look a million different ways in a million people’s lives.  If we are willing to hold our God-given gifts, talents, and resources with an open hand, we can trust that He will direct us in how we can use them to bring Him glory.  And that does change the world around us.

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