Pro.Life – a trend or a lifestyle?

Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity). ~1 John 3.18

This morning as I got ready, I heard a commercial on the radio that got me thinking. A girl was talking about how great it was to find a safe clinic where she could terminate her unwanted pregnancy and not be judged or put in jail for making her choice. The first thought that came to mind was to get the number, followed by the address so that I could maybe go out to that clinic and do my “Christian” duty of trying to talk the women out of killing their unborn children.  Tonight as I watched “You Dont know Jack” – the HBO story of Dr. Jack Kevorkian - with my husband, the thoughts that had been going round and round in my mind on Pro.Life and pro.choice finally came to a stop and it all finally made sense!

Being Pro.Life is much more than simply standing up for something that is “morally” right just because its the “Christian” thing to do…

…PRO.LIFE GOES BEYOND THE WOMB.

I really believe the Pro.Life movement has become somewhat of a moralistic or self righteous trend more than a true conviction of heart, or a true understanding of God’s heart for the unborn, unwanted, rejected and orphaned children.

Being Pro. Life should go further than to stand with a sticker on ur lips once a year, but further with actions: adoption, sponsoring, feeding, investing your time, money and life for that person you think had a right to live.

It’s not just about telling the mom to not kill her child or give it up for adoption – it goes further – its about the quality of life this child and person deserves after they’re born! A quality life with love and hope.

Living in Mexico city I see many children in the streets, we often hear about the abuse that happens in children’s homes, orphanages and foster homes. Many of these places are just fronts for human trafficking and for exploitation rings.  I think if all these pro.life people, myself included, who stand outside the abortion clinics counseling against it, would truly understand the Father’s heart and how it goes deeper than just preventing murder of the unborn – if we would understand that it goes beyond the womb and into a life of hope, a life where they actually stand a chance – THEN we would have a generation full of the power of God, a generation that truly understands the Spirit of Adoption, the Father’s heart for this world.

As I watched this movie tonight I saw how people rallied against Dr. Kevorkian assisting these suffering people end their lives. There were pro.life activists all over the place, judging, telling him he was playing god. But truly how many Pro.Life righteous people do we know that would come with power to heal and end the agony, pain and suffering these people go through? Or even, in a more casual or simple way, how many people invest their money, time, donate blood and help these people through their difficult times?

We as a church are so quick to judge what we think is morally wrong or right. We so often go with what we are told is right, but do we really try to understand God’s heart and how it goes beyond the banners and yelling against what is “wrong”? I believe God’s heart is full of love and hope that continues to give constantly after the decision to LIVE is made.

It’s time we start putting actions to our words. I want to be Pro. Life in a way that continually gives – that I can love and give like God does. That one day I may adopt and love on children that were given the chance to live and now can be given the opportunity to a healthy, happy life, so they can one day grow up to do the same in return and become a powerful generation representing a real Pro.Life movement.

I don’t want to be another “Christian trendster” but a real representative of how Jesus is.  Being Pro.Life should not be a title, a thing to feel good about, or the brownie points to being a good Christian. It should be a lifestyle that continues to give – unconditionally – and that continues to bring forth life, a LIFE that reproduces in others and that continues to give and grow.

If you know someone who doesn’t have any clothes or food, you shouldn’t just say, “I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat.” What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead! ~James 2.15-17

Stress

As I try to have everything “in order” in preparation for our baby´s arrival, Im facing times when things are just out of my control and i freak out, when i notice next, Im overwhelmed and stressed, feeling sick and frustrated. Sometimes I dont notice until Im here, frustrated, with a headache and I let go or give up and decide I need to breathe and take a break…then I notice that as soon as I let go, an idea comes up or the person I was having a hard time getting through to, ends up being helpful towards me. Why the stress, why freak out? This just reminds me of an area in my life where I still need some maturing to do. Why get overwhelmed or stressed over things that can get fixed or that I know down deep in my heart God will help me with…I need to let go and let God breathe life into my plans and the things I “need to get done”.  I need to truly trust in His ability to make things happen in my favor vs. with my own sassyness and ability and when I want them to happen.
Im reminded that I truly need to get this lesson in my heart and through my head, I need to stop relying on my own ability on how and when I think things are best done, and really seek God´s counsel of the times and the way to go about things.

WEEKEND/Fin de Semana

This will be my spanglish blog =)

YA LLEGO EL FIN DE SEMANA!! woohoo….me hace muy feliz que este fin estamos llenos de actividades, many things to look forward to….

However there is only 2 things that highlight the weekend. The first one happens tomorrow morning…our Saturday morning en el bosque de Tlalpan…our exciting date with the Holy Spirit! Its so energizing and exciting to be able to spend that time away with him in the middle of nature, trees, beautiful birds and the bright shiny sun! The second one is the expectancy of the fire, the precense of God at our service on Sunday!! Just for everyone to meet up in an atmosphere of worship! Im excitedly expecting great things this weekend!

A couple of pix of our Saturday mornings….

IT´S HAPPENING

….just because we chose to ignore something it doesnt mean it instantly goes away or disappears.  It´s a fact, a child somewhere, a brother, a sister, a son, daughter, neighbor, best friend….someone precious is being sold into the slave trade market.

HUMAN LIVES ARE NOT FOR SALE!!

This is a trailer i watched today, its a fact, its not only an international problem, it happens in our own back yards…

are we going to sit there and do nothing or are we going to obey when the Father asks us to be his hands, feet, his voice??? Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. ♥ Proverbs 31.8

Dont ignore it….please do something about it, pray, cry out for justice, share with your friends, get involved, donate to an organization that is doing something to combat trafficking & exploitation….
Just because you ignore it,it doesnt mean its not happening.
IT´S HAPPENING!

great resources:
www.love146.org
www.notforsalecampaign.org
www.humantrafficking.org
www.2010humantraffic.org
www.childtrafficking.com
www.antislavery.org
www.callandresponse.com
www.sharedhope.org

HINENI

It means “Here I am,” and is mostly used when God personally calls on someone in the Bible to do something difficult and important.  Abraham? “Here I am.”   Moses? “Here I am.”   It’s very complete and emotionally charged, and implies, “Here I am: ready, willing and able.”

There’s a special prayer on Yom Kippur called “Hineni” which starts, “Here I am in deep humility . . . “

I don’t know if God is making a lot of personal calls these days, but I have a feeling most of our responses as contemporary Americans would be slightly more equivocal, at least initially, and would at one point include, “Okay, sure, but . . . It’s a little sudden, that’s all.  Hang on, let me turn the game off.”

“Here I am” is a powerful and layered statement, but there’s another meaning to hineni, even deeper and more resonant: Here I stand.

Here I stand. It’s not a meek thought; it’s a bottom line. “Here I stand. Here I will make my stand. I know what will most likely happen, but it does not matter, since I will not be moving. This is where I am going to make my stand.  Hineni.”     (www.weeklystandard.com  Larry Miller)

I read this article a couple of days ago  and this is exactly where I am, my heart screams HERE I AM!   chose me, do with me and through me as you please….my hunger grows more and more every day that passes by…i dont even know how or where to start.

I’m desperate, I’m willing,  I’m hungry,  I’m able….Here I am!!

Criminal Minds

…just watched this episode and it made me cry and choke up like I hadn’t in a while… dont know where all the emotions came from, but as of late i feel as if Im way more aware of this.

Im constantly reminded its happening, every day, every minute, whether i care to think about it today or not,a child is being sold, molested,  abused, trafficked.

It nudges me every day, there’s so much more i can do but i dont know where to start, it gets overwhelming at times…and i feel so powerless…

I can’t but get reminded of what God has been speaking to me about, what I blogged about just yesterday….in His presence, that’s where i need to be, I need to “rest” and trust that in that place He will lead me and give me the tools on what to do next….sigh.

Please take some time and read this blog  http://love146.org/blog/emergency-part-1

Focus.Rest.Find

Woke up with a song in my head.  We used to sing it back when I was @ CFNI, a loooooong time ago…hadn’t thought about that song in a while and today, it just wouldnt stop playing in my head.  It really reflects on how I feel inside right now….Im hungry for His presence…

…my soul, my Spirit… so desperate and hungry for more of His presence.  The more we talk about it and look for it, the hungrier and desperate I get. I just feel as if I have no clue where to begin, if I should start by listening to some soaking worship,pray or if I should grab my bible and read, i mean those are helpful disciplines no??  =/ ….then again, we keep on hearing REST, just REST….rest?! but there’s  so much to do!! and then again, David and I hear God telling us to rest.  He´s beckoning  us to rest and spend time in His presence….just resting, not asking, not worried about how we can be more efficent here or how we can save the world….just rest.

I dont think I know how to ¨rest¨….I mean, trust me, I know how to sleep in! but yet, there´s times that after sleeping so much i still dont feel rested. I think, think, think even as i try to fall asleep….I think about what to do next, about the next stage. Ministry, the girls -how i can serve them better, babies, how i can be a better wife, how i can lose some weight…always thinking about what needs to be done! I dont think I know how to truly enjoy a season without being preoccupied with what is next…not cool and very tiring.

Last saturday at el bosque de Tlalpan (Tlalpan Forrest),  I was reading a devotional that talks about how its hard to rest in a society that is always on the move.  A society which also teaches us to feel dissatisfied with what we have and strive for more.  It also states that one of God´s grandest invitations is to rest.  

¨Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest¨(Matthew 11.28)

¨In Returning to me and resting in me will you be saved, In quietness and confidence is your strength…¨ (Isaiah 30.15)

God gave me 3 things then…. Focus, Rest, Find.  I really believe He was telling me to Focus on Him, as simple as that.  Its all about Him afterall.  Rest,  Rest in Him, let go of any control on  how i live or do life, or how much effectiveness I bring to our ministry or on what my next step should be and whatnot…just chill and let Him be God, let Him be the one who ¨saves the world¨ and not me on my own strenght… that in that focus and rest I will FIND Him, I will find the rest and satisfaction to my longings, wants and needs and find the tools that I need to be more effective for His Kingdom…

I really long to be with Him, to spend time with Him experience His presence…Im in the path of learning how…setting my mind to relax and not over-stress about time or about ¨not feeling¨anything while Im looking for Him….but simply sit there, knowing He is there, not asking, not expecting, just knowing He is there because He promised He would…

OUT with the OLD, IN with the NEW

I notice everyone writes that on their status. A catchy phrase i would say. I think for many it just stays as a simple cool thing to say or phrase to repeat but how many of us are really willing to leave the OLD behind and really start looking forward to NEW things?  Its easier to say something like that on a shallow note but not really mean it from the core out. Sometimes we are too comfortable with our habits or things we like, yet know they´re not necessarily the best for us.   I want to really take some time and see where Ive grown this year and how much more I need to improve in some areas, to really dig deep and see where and how i can be better for those around me, how i can, on a day to day basis be like Jesus to the people i come in contact with. I want to learn how to be constant in things that I set my mind to do, i admit, that is not a strong point for me, in 2009 i realized it was a character flaw, but in 2010 i hope to see it be strengthened, and see how i grow in that area.  I want all the old, bad habits out the window and to see new great things develop and unfold in my life this next year. To deepen my relationship with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to teach me so that the year after I can look back and proudly see that the OLD has really stayed behind and its no longer a part of my life, that Im really reNEWing myself constantly in such a way that I step into my destiny and with God´s help become that abolitionist, world changer I long to be.  I want to encourage all my friends to look at 2009 and truly leave behind anything that holds you back from becoming FREE, from becoming that man or woman that you were created to be, and that in 2010 you step into your God-designed destiny!

Father, I thank you for the all the blessings in 2009, for my wonderful husband and for giving me a taste of what you´ve called me to do. I thank you for the friends and family that have been pillars in my life, thank you for the things that I´ve learned and I pray that you would search in my heart and if there would be anything that holds me back from being close to you, or that holds me back from my destiny, that you would point it out, that it would be removed from its core so that I would be free to be.   I love you and I long to go deeper with you, to truly make a difference in the world that I live in, lets keep on dreaming together! Enable me to be like Jesus to everyone i come in contact with! I pray that in 2010, you would give my family and friends a deeper knowledge of who you are, that you would bless them and that you would place this crazy hunger in our guts for more of you! Please help us to really be, from the core out, OUT with the OLD, IN with the NEW! Amen.

2009 highlights and things Im beyond grateful for this year:

Becoming Mrs. Ovando-Arcos and starting a new life adventure called marriage.

Becoming a US Citizen thanks to my parents hard work for over 20 years to make this happen.

Thursday night group. I truly love these people, we have become such a family.

My girls…meeting these girls and spending time with them has  changed my life for sure! www.ayuda.org.mx

We are gods, children of the Most High

The most precious title one could ever have and live by is child of God…hearing it and ¨knowing it¨in your mind is not merely enough. Its something that we must know in our hearts, a fact that becomes your daily living, the core of who you are.

Experiencing God as my Father has completely changed my life, I am free, i understand grace much more than I could ever imagine. I understand that He is in my favor and that His plans for me are way higher than what I can imagine to satisfy or complete me. This reality has given me a purpose and has brought life to dreams I though were impossible or too big to see happen…many have come true and many more I´m excited to see unfold!

Just because my Father believes I can conquer things that seem impossible, I know I can. There´s a passion that burns inside my heart and that is for justice…I want to see slavery be abolished, I want to see happy and healthy kids with bright futures ahead of them instead of exploited children, selling candy while we sit in traffick or seeing them be sold into the sex slave/organ trade market. I want to see hunger & poverty end, I want to see the sick be healed and the bound be delivered. Some people believe that times will get worse as a sign that Jesus is coming back, they´ve said there´s not much one can do to make things change or be abolished, but that is not what I believe God says. Things won´t get so bad that we can´t see things change and be a part of that change. There are many places in the bible where we are told to feed the hungry, watch after the widow and orphans, free the slaves….

^{Psalm 82. 3-4} “Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
Rescue the poor and helpless;
deliver them from the grasp of evil people.

^{Isaiah 58.6-7} “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

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 him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

…why would He tell us these things if He knows things are only going to get worse and be impossible for us to make a difference in the matter??

the biggest question is why are we not doing these things??

Jesus tells us that if we have faith in Him, greater things than what He did we could do, He gave us the Holy Spirit, what greater power or authority!! (John 14)…. If God constantly tells us to do these things, that means He will empower us to do them. The Holy Spirit will teach us when we feel not so qualified or sharp for the task, He will guide our steps, why are we then not doing these things? Is it lack of knowing who we really are through Him, or simply being too preoccupied with our own lives to care? what is it?!

We are gods, children of the Most High (Psalm 82.6) As His children we must believe that we are His mere representatives here on earth and that He has given us the Holy Spirit, together we can see heaven invade earth, God´s presence be manifested in and through us to bring hope to a world that has lost all hope.

These heart and mind ramblings are to set why Im here, set what I stand for and who I am, from the core out…the reason why I decide to marry a crazy, God-hungry man, and live a life of full dependency on God, open to learn and change as we go. They also serve to remind myself of the why I moved to Mexico city, believing that God brought me out here to make a difference. To be a part of people that will see Mexico hope, believe and worship our one and only true God. Its so exciting to be on this journey along with my best friend and husband for more of God´s presence, to see heaven invade earth, to learn to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit in favor of others and see the release of His power to change our city, our country, our world. To simply see life from His perspective and live lives where we can abandon ¨self¨ and live for others. To see His perfect plan unfold in other people´s lives, as well as in our lives. I long to be His hands and His feet, for my heart to beat along with His and feel what He feels, to see through His eyes.

Im not completely there yet, but that´s where Im aiming to be, at 100% of my ¨god, child of the Most High¨ capacity to see miracles and wonders unfold over this country…over our lives.

Empezando…

Hola.

Somos Conmpasión… queriendo decir Con Pasión y Compasión… ambos elementos que sentimos que Dios inspiró en Jesús.

Nuestro ministerio consta por el momento de Dios, Erikah y David.

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Esto es todo por el momento pero gracias por tomarte un tiempo para leernos.