A Call To Rise Up

Precious Daughters,

There is a fight on our hands...not just a fight, but a war. A war in our nation, our workplaces, our schools and our homes. It's a war for the lost, the disheartened, the hurting, the broken. It's a war for the family. It's a war for an entire generation. You and your children represent  the next wave of history and how the Kingdom of God will impact it. Or how it won't. As a believer and follower of Jesus, you threw your name in the hat to participate.

God says, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. I had a specific purpose and place in my Kingdom in mind when I created you. I didn't make a mistake. Did you hear that? I didn't make a mistake! I gave you gifts and talents unlike anyone else and placed them deep in your heart. I formed and fashioned you in the womb, knowing full well the destiny I have for you. I even foresaw how the enemy was going to try and steal that destiny and I said, 'Go ahead and try. The giftings and calling of God are irrevocable. And what the enemy  intended for evil, I use for good.' I'm going to use it to bring you close to me, for you to be able to see the miraculous, for you to experience my healing, to give you a testimony, to develop and refine your character so that it can handle what I've called you to do. I'm developing warriors in the spirit and teaching you how to wield your weapons. I'm using it to develop community, for you to lean on and also support, your brothers and sisters because I'm creating an army and you're going to need each other."

It's time to get righteously angry at the right thing. Because we don't war against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, against the rulers of darkness of this age. Your enemy is not your ex-husband or the father of your children or the person that did that horrible thing to you. It's the evil one that's behind all of it, that is out to steal, kill and destroy both you and your children. He wants you to opt out, give up and turn back. And I'm here to encourage you to rise up and fight. Fight for our children, for our own lives, for the abundant life God promised. Let's fight together because we'll never make it alone.

This Generation

My heart breaks for this generation. For the things they have to endure. For the challenges that face them. For the temptations around them. For the heartbreak they feel. For the wounds from absent parents. For the heartache from life gone awry. For being forced to grow up too fast. I am just one person. How did all of these amazing, beautiful children end up in my life as young adults, wounded, scarred, and hurting? Trying to make it in life, clueless as to where they're going.

My heart grieves for them. For the childhood they never got to experience. For the burdens placed on their frail shoulders at a much too young age. For seeing things they were never meant to see and experiencing things they were never meant to taste. I am just one person. I'm not sure my heart can handle hearing any more. And yet they keep coming, and pouring out the pain behind a veil of aloofness and indifference. Wishing someone would hear beyond their vague words and see behind the smokescreen of protection.

My heart aches for the truth they do not know. For the lies they have believed. For the destinies that are sitting on the sidelines of self-sufficiency, in bondage to the after-effects of a chaotic childhood. To scared to take a risk, to wounded to become vulnerable. But they can't keep it in any longer. It spills over and the pain leaks out. They try to manage it and contain it, but once the floodgate is open they can no longer bring back the tidal wave. I am just one person. But I refuse to sit behind apathy and indifference and pretend like it's all ok.

My heart groans for the precious lives that think they don't matter. For the ones just aching to be noticed. To be told they are special and important. They act out and we judge them. The speak out and we condemn them. They reach out and we pretend like we can't see them. This is the next generation, our hope and our future. Lost, broken, captive. If you listen close enough, you can hear them crying out. Our own iniquity has put them in a battle too big for them to fight alone. I am just one person. But if my heart breaks and yours does too, what will we do? When will we stop, see, hear and notice? And when will we respond with love, grace, kindness and mercy? Rise up, my friend, and reach out. There is one out there that needs you.