Y-Malawi: Prayers for Africa
From March 30-April 9, I will be traveling with a team of people to help establish a ministry partnership in Malawi Africa working with people whose lives and livelihoods have been devastated by the AIDS virus. Each day I will post our itinerary and an excerpt from our trip devotional so that you can pray along with us. On Sunday, April 10, the SCPC team members will share our experiences in our worship services and I will post some reflections and picture from the trip starting then.
Itinerary: Visit with Opportunity International to see their work in "micro-financing", visit the "new" Nhkoma Area Development Site which would be the hub of the work of the partnership.
Scripture: James 1:27
Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us. (NLT)
Thought for the day:
Our contemporary culture emphasizes the importance of self-development and self-assertion. We have to make of life what we can, and we do this by grasping and striving.
This perspective fails to see that so much of life is not what we do but what has been given and what we have joyfully received. If also fails to see that we gain not simply by taking but by giving.
Self-giving is intrinsic to a healthy rhythm of life. Mother Teresa reminds us that “by forgetting yourself you find yourself.”
By self-giving we do not mean self-negation. This is not the doubtful art of putting oneself down. This is not the practice of inferiority. It is precisely the opposite. It is out of a sense of being loved by God and of having received so much that we can bend our heart, ear and hand to the other who is in need. And in reaching out and serving the other we grow into the persons God desires us to be.
—Charles Ringma, Wash the Feet of the World with Mother Teresa, Reflection #11
Prayer
Lord, as we give today, help us not even notice our giving. As we serve free us from being aware of our serving. Instead help us to see only you in the eyes of those whom we have come to serve, beckoning us to the life you intended for us. Amen
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