Orphan Outreach

For the past several years, God has given me a phrase to focus on and pray. One year it was, “Be strong and courageous.” In another it was “God is here with me, right now.” In 2021 my phrase was, “Commit your plans to the Lord,” and last year it was “Look back, lean forward.” I use these phrases throughout my day, writing them at the top of my daily journal and using them as a breath prayer whenever I need to recenter myself in God.

This year, the phrase I feel God has given me is, “In Christ, I’m more than enough.”

On a personal level, I believe God is saying to me, “Hey, you have a tendency of wanting to go it alone, but when you do that, you reach your limits quickly. But in Me, you’ll always have enough. So, stay in Me.” I often struggle with a sense of inadequacy. I struggle with questions like, “Am I the right one? Can I really do this?” It’s something I’ve struggled with my whole life. And this phrase speaks directly to the heart of that insecurity, and it quiets it.

I also feel this year’s phrase also speaks to Orphan Outreach, as a whole. I often ask myself, “Do we have enough to help all these kids out? Do we have the best ideas? Are our programs doing enough? Do we have enough staff? How are we going to provide for all the work we are doing?”. And I feel God’s response to all of those concerns is, “In Christ, you have more than enough.”

There are verses all over the bible that speak to this idea, but the one that really resonated with me is Hebrews 11:33-34. There is an obscure phrase tucked into the middle of the hall of faith. After listing all of the incredible witnesses who have gone before us, the author describes the kind of harrowing events they experienced:

“...who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.”

The phrase that jumped out at me was “who gained strength from weakness”. This random phrase jumped out at me because I have seen God turn weakness into strength in my life. I’ve seen him do that in the lives of our kids around the world. What the world sees as their weaknesses, He turns into their strength. He’s made them more resilient, passionate, and determined.

Psalm 24:1a says, “The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” God is a God of abundance. He has everything we need and will not withhold any good thing from us as we seek to accomplish the mission that He has given us. When we stay in Christ, when we stay in the center of His will, we will have everything we need.

In fact, we will have more than enough.