BLESSED ARE POOR IN SPIRITY

PEOPLE ARE BLESSED IN DIFFERENT WAYS WITH DIFFERENT THINGS;  DIFFERENT TIMES AND PLACES.  

Question: What draws me closer to God? Away from God? Why do bad things happen? Why isn’t the world a better place?             

                

When I was young, I used to run away from home with some food and other kids stuff  and give out to a group of homeless kids outside the house. My parents  used to look for me without any success and when they used to find me outside with the kids, after I shared with them food and some of my things. They could not point me out from the rest because I was “dirty” and unrecognizable, it was a headache for them but to myself I was so proud because I was able to make those kids happy.

·        See, at that age I did not understand why I had clothes and food while I passed other people in the streets that had no food around them, they did not look like they knew what they were going to eat either. I passed them every day and they would ask them for something, and I would ask my mom if she had any money for me to give them.

·        I harassed my parents a lot at the point of helping other people, I used to tell them all the time “remember when God said if you have two, you should give one to your neighbor” That used to hit them hard.

·        Thanks for my parents who decided to welcome them and live with us and educate them through the organization for me called ROTU, This organization takes in orphans and helps them get an education so that they could be able to provide for themselves. Once I heard some of their stories I was like God thank you, thank you for the life you have granted me. I used to think I had problems but I really did not.

·        I lived with one some orphans the girls and they told me their sad stories, one Orphan she had no home and the rest of hers had cast her out after the parent’s death. They did not even think twice about it, they just didn’t want her. As she was telling me this, she asked me “do you know the feeling of not being wanted in your own family?” At this question, my heart stumbled. Can you imagine your parents not loving you at all; you are all alone in the dark not knowing what is coming up next. As soon as her parents died, and was casted off, she started looking for another life, went to her aunties and uncles but no one wanted her. Then she came across a (Pastor) and he took her in and that how we came to know of her because the pastor knew my mom and the program and therefore led her to us…..  (No parents, no love, no family. What is that like?)

·        There was another girl whose parents were dead and had no place to live or go to. She decided to become a maid since in Africa once you are not educated, being a maid is the only good option to get money. She got a work from a family that ended up converting her to a Muslim. She became a new person, driven away from what she once knew to a new beginning that she could not understand herself. We took her in and converted her back to Christianity and opened for her a whole new chapter. Beatrice finished school and is now studying to get her degree/bachelor in teaching.

·        Another girl story is far from the fairy tale world where  we young people believe in. High school sweethearts, relationship with such a young age while our minds are yet to reach that level of maturity. Her boyfriend took the iron and burnt her whole body without any mercy. She was in a critical condition when she arrived at the hospital but survived by God’s miracle. She then wanted to open a case upon him, though she did not have any money and therefore lost the case before it even began. Took her in, educate her and now she is studying for a higher level. Why?

·        Burnt all over her body yet God choose to save her life instead of taking it why? We all have a purpose in the world, for some of us they are clear, for some of us, well, not so clear. So should we give up? NO. Our job is to find the answer to that question, now do not think that you will go out on the streets to search for your purpose in the world and it will be handed to you like a piece of candy, oh!! No, you will be day dreaming. See we are disciples of God in this world, and our work to lead the others cannot just be easily given to us. We have to prove that we are ready to conquer anything that will come our way, the temptations, the tests and all that God has on hand for us to be tested if we can persevere and carry on without quitting. So in any work, job, you will have disappointments though what matters is if can stand through them and get back to work.

·        There a lot other kids with similar stories and others that just need help to reach their goals so that they can help others too.

i)    SO HERE IS THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: The world is the way it is because it’s the world that we, in a sense, have asked for.

·         If we want to change it, we can simply by changing the way we do things and how we take others. Luke 6:36 says, “Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier” When you have helped that one person, you have not only done that to help them but it is one step to changing the world since we are all there is to change it. It begins with us, we can’t tell others to change the world while we are not so let us make the first move then the rest will follow.

     

What helps me to become more a part of God’s realm (god’s way of being and doing) in my daily life? In my home life? In my community? In the meeting’s? In the wider world?