[dreamer]

"You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity. The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kinds of the earth will revere your glory. For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory."
Psalm 102: 13-16

Recently the Lord has laid a dream on my heart. It has been something that I have thought about often and questioned if and when it would happen.
He's given my a picture of me being in a home filled with children and teenagers. There is laughter and joy and the feeling of a family. The kids are of all different ages but they had/have one common purpose for being there: they found hope and love in this home. They are there because there is so much love, kindness, patience and hope for them. This home and these thoughts create an excitement and joy inside my heart. Over the past year the Lord has taught, shown and given me an understanding of what His love is; in a more deep way than I could have asked for.

So what to do with this new found love then to give it back to those who need it most?

"From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus."

Galatians 6:17

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightening lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim the his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory.

Psalm 97:1-6

SO proud of my little sister, Anika. She's growing up into a beautiful, wonderful woman of God.

"...and you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

Isaiah 58:12b

"...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called mighty oaks..."

Isaiah 61:3

His love is deep, his love is wide and it covers us all.

"Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Times does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, bit by bit."
C.S. Lewis

Taking part in ending the sexual abuse and exploitation against human beings around the world is taking out the powers of evil, bit by bit.

facts:

-250,00 to 500,000 children live as prostitutes in Brazil.
-3,500 children are trapped in brothels and clubs for commerical sex exploitation on the borders between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.
-40,000 annual births in Thailand go unregistered. Without a birth certificate, these children are denied health care and education, and are more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
-50% of human trafficking victims are minors.
-30% of sex workers in India are children.
-80% of human trafficking victims are women and children.

...2 children are sold into the human sex trade every minute.

Isaiah 58

v.1: Shout it loud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet..
v7: Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe them, and turn away from your own flesh and blood?
v8: Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart [guard]. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day.

Psalm 91:4-5

God is so good. There is no sweeter name or safer refuge.

Ask me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron, you will dash them to pieces like pottery.

Psalm 2:8-9

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Isaiah 43:2

Life really has a way of coming around and giving you a swift kick in the rear. This morning at church, life gave me just that.
I went in this early this morning (I cant emphasize on how early it really was) and helped with the parking team for my church. I am one of those crazy people wearing a bright orange vest holding two flags that I move crazily in the air; just to make sure that people know where they are going and where they are headed...hopefully in the right direction. Yep totally out of my comfort zone, but nonetheless the time of my life. So, I was only able to sneak in for the last 30 minutes of church but it was the exact time and place that I needed to be in. I swept into the back seat thinking this would be just another Sunday service, maybe feeling blessed as I left the parking lot. I was wrong. Which is becoming more common as I get older. Church has become the place where I get blessed the most. Paster Peter is in the third part of his series called I QUIT! and it's all about the things in life that can easily take us out; No Sweat, Critiquing, and this week was Complaining. Every week I've felt that Paster Peter was talking straight to me and I was the only one in the auditorium who felt guilty and who wanted to run out because they were sweating too much and people were probably starting to notice the large sweat beads running down my forehead (I'm sure many of you can't relate....). Let me give you a little history to how my last 48 hours have been. I was reminded, again, that the Lord is my sole provider and always will be. Why do I relentlessly forget who my God really is? And every time He proves faithful I feel embarassed but at the same time so humble because my God never forgets me or complains about me. This morning I complained about a circumstance with people in my life to my sister, she listened. But then as I was finishing my story, my sister has a story that she told me about, something else to complain about. It didn't seem like a problem this morning but Paster Peter proved that to be pretty, preposterous-ly wrong. As I sat in the back row of the auditorium, I felt out of place as Pastor Peter started to talk about complaining and how that can be so wrong in our lives. Of course I knew that, it just didn't seem like it was a problem in my life. I was not able to take notes but there is one thing that he said that has stuck with me "We need to get over the things we can't change and change what we can be". The situation that I was dealing with this morning I can't change but I can change my attitude towards it. It truly takes a willing heart and mind to be a Christ-filled person in this life. Also, he said that "The people that we hang around and share life with, are who we become". So, Annie-Laurie, don't hang out with the people that are consistently going to be complaing about life and things that they can't change. I needed to be that for my sister this morning; I will be better...for her and for my friends around me.
From feeling so jaded from the church and what it did to my family; I still learn so much from it.

Blessings to all of you who have overcome obstacles in your life, stopped the complaining and who have chosen to share life with people who care.

dream team.

Today i was encouraged by my friend Elsa.
I love sharing life with people that are all passionate about going and doing great things. I love being surrounded by people who will give it all to honor and serve our King. What a wonderful community I have around me.
I cant wait to have our dream team Elsa; full of the people we love and support who want to make a difference in this world.

if we're this excited. God is going to make it happen.