What is important....

I had the greatest experience last night at Ignite (Thanks, again SAO!!). Let me take you back to where the story begins....This summer I read a book called Sacred Singleness by Leslie Ludy (Side note: one of the greatest books I've ever read. It's definitely a must read for all girls!). While I was reading the book, I felt a call from God about orphans. It amazed me after he called me to it. I LOVE kids! Why had I not thought of this before?! I began asking around and my friend Kellee and I decided to create a ministry just for orphans. How often do you think people visit the orphanages just to care about and pour into these kids? That was our goal: to visit an orphanage once a month and just love. The more Kellee and I talked about it the more we realized it shouldn't be just a "once a month" type of thing! We began brainstorming all of the things we could do to help orphans all over and the foundation for J27 was born (James 1:27 :) ). This was literally one of the greatest things that ever happened to me! I had never felt a call so strong from God and never felt so joyful that I was actually doing something he desired for me to do!

Fast forward a month later and I'm spiritually, physically, and emotionally exhausted. School has taken it's toll on me and my spiritual life. I haven't seriously thought about J27 in awhile and I'm running on empty. I'm no longer myself anymore, I'm not joyful, I'm always tired, and very irritable. It was just not a state at which I'm proud to be in. I was in the process of finding myself in God again when it was time for Ignite. It's always on Tuesday nights and I've gone to every one since my freshman year. I just love it! I ask my wonderful cell ladies if they would want to go and of course they agreed and went with me. The service was amazing (as usual), but something happened at the end that really shook my world. JJ Weeks called his wife to the stage to come talk about something and I just thought it was normal merch. stuff. Then they showed it: the picture of a little Indonesian child. I began to bawl because I knew exactly where they were going with it. They went on to say that they had a tshirt for sale and all of the profits were going to benefit an orphanage in Indonesia, but that's not what I heard. I heard God say to me "Sarah, you've accepted my call to orphan ministry. Now act on it". For so long I had pushed something that meant so much to me out of the way for school that it got me thinking "What is important?" I know that sounds crazy, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I find myself saying that school is so important: I have work to do, placement to go in, so many things to do so that I will be able to graduate and become a teacher. But what if that's not what's important? Why am I pushing something like school in front of the creator of everything and the lover of my soul? Shouldn't serving the one who saved me from my sin, who loved me so much that he paid the price for me with his own blood be the most important thing to me in my life? We are called to be servants of Christ and right now that is the most important thing to me.


So for any of you that are reading this and are inspired to do something with orphans or are interested in helping J27 in anyway, please let me know! We would love to start taking donations for new or gently used books and toys and also for pharmaceuticals for first aid kits. I promise that you will be so blessed!

Save Us by JJ Weeks