Thursday, January 19, 2012

A Beautiful Life

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

Psalms 27:9.
 I have had the wonderful opportunity this week of spending some time with the Watoto Children's Choir from Africa. They arrived in Weatherford Friday night and after singing at various churches in Texas and will be performing at North Side on February 10, 2012.


Watoto is a holistic care program that was initiated as a response to the overwhelming number of orphaned children and vulnerable women in Uganda whose lives have been ravaged by war and disease. These beautiful children have touched my heart and the hearts of my own children in such a way that we will never be the same again. They are so sweet-natured and polite; so grateful for all they are given. They love God and sing His praises with great emotion.


In talking to one of the leaders of this group I learned that all of them have lost at least one parent and most have lost both parents. I also learned that some of the orphans that Watoto rescued were literally thrown away in a pile of rubbish. To think that this beautiful little girl standing before me who has touched my heart so deeply was possibly thrown out with the garbage when she was a baby makes my heart ache.


God is The Father to the Fatherless


Of the children in the Watoto Children's Choir who have lost only one parent, it is generally a father. For a father to die honorably while his child is young is bad enough, but for a father to abandon a child or to be taken by AIDS or war is far worse. Circumstances like this can leave a child ashamed and confused. Without proper direction and guidance it is easy for them to develop an attitude (whether conscious or not) that God, at least for them, cannot be trusted. They can easily believe that He is insensitive to their need and pain and will abandon them too one day. But God is not that way. He is very concerned about the fatherless. Psalms 68:5 says Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.


These beautiful children are touched by hands that have been led of God to provide care, protection, provision and education for the fatherless. The glowing smiles and radiant joy on the faces of the beautiful children I met this week is the result of God’s love manifest through the compassionate and faithful care of His faithful servants on their lives.


Talk about the sanctity of life! Every life that God creates has a purpose and plan. Who could imagine that this baby that was thrown out with the garbage would come to America and touch the lives of hundreds of people? Could anyone have known how special and wonderful so many people would one day think this child is? I am so thankful that these children were rescued from their circumstances. I am also thankful for the organization committed to rescuing and raising these children and then to restoring Africa to be a better place for all the children there.


I can’t wait for you to meet them when they come to North Side on Friday night, February 10, 2012 at 6:00 p.m..
Scripture to Claim:
“The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'” Matthew 25:40

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