Today was my 'anniversary' •November 14, 1999• was the day I was 'drawn from water'. Did I celebrate today? No, not really. But I remembered. I got up and went to church with my family, looked around me and realized just how far I have come with my life over the last 12 years. Understanding the transition from a baby Christian to a grown up. And yet, I'm still growing. Everyday.
Going from the baby who starts a new life with my Savior, yet still fails miserably to do His will. Recognizing my shortcomings and learning to grow from them....
Maturing into a grown up who wants to walk in His light daily, living for my Savior and choosing to walk away from sin at all costs. I didn't say I was sinless, but we learn that as we grow as Christians we turn from sin and recognize it much easier. We despise it and it saddens us. Yes, saddens.
I want others to feel the joy and have the hope that I have by living with my Savior. By making him #1 in my life He cares for me, provides for me, loves me and blesses me beyond measure. As our Sunday school lesson taught us this morning that we find hope and rejoice even in the bad times. Even when things can seem to be at their worst, we still worship a living God who never will foresake us. It's wonderful. It's awe-inspiring, it's magical...... some days it's just indescribable!
So, today.... I celebrate my anniversary of being drawn from water. 12 years ago, on a warm and sunny November afternoon we left directly after church and went to the lake down the road. Richard Key dunked me in the lake, washed away my sins, and started my life anew. While family and friends looked on. It was a beautiful day. I loved every second of it.
And something I want to share with you all is "DRAWN FROM WATER".... literally. An organization working in Africa that started all from one child being drawn from water. But not in the sense I've been talking about. Not in a raising up, washing sins away, beginning a new life type of way. But in another life-saving way.
DRAWN FROM WATER began when one little girl was pulled from a river to save her life. Her tribal custom deemed her 'evil'.....'unworthy'...... mingi.
Mingi is a term defined as the state of being impure or "ritually polluted" in certain African tribes. In some tribes, a person, often a child, who is considered mingi is killed by forced permanent separation from the tribe by being left alone in the jungle or by drowning in the river. Reasons for being declared impure include birth out of wedlock, the birth of twins, the eruption of teeth in the upper jaw before the lower jaw, and chipping a tooth in childhood. Those who are separated often shadow the tribe, but they eventually succumb to hunger or predators.
A little girl was pulled from the river to save her life as she was sent out to be drowned. All because her top teeth came in before her bottom teeth. Wow.... I can't even begin to remember, without pulling out the baby book, how my children's teeth came in. We just marvel at how cute they are or grumble over the sleepless, drool-filled nights while they are teething. We never give a second thought to how our children's teeth come in. After all, they're baby teeth. Eventually they will be lost, we'll tell our kids about a tooth fairy and slip quarters under their pillow at night as a reward for being so brave when that tooth fell (or got pulled) out. :)
We can't begin to grab hold of the ideas and rituals of a tribe that will drowned a child, literally kill them, because of such a thing. One of God's precious children. A child of promise, of possibility.....oh the possibilities held within the mind of a child who is nurtured and loved.
This organization, DRAWN FROM WATER, that began with saving the life of one child has now grown into a thriving orphanage that houses, feeds and educates the children in their area. Please, check out their website. You can even sponsor children now to help. You can look through their photos, their ages, their names, and discover when or why they were brought to the orphanage for care. Just yesterday I saw another small baby whose parents, yes--a mother and father--brought their son to the orphanage because they did not want to see him put to death. For the very same reason. His top teeth emerged before his bottom teeth. Imagine the joy of being a parent, showering a child with love, making them laugh and giggle and drool while playing or tickling........ only to be heartbroken and have to give him away to save his very life. Wow..... just please check them out.
If nothing else.....PRAY for these children. Pray for this tribe to see the light. Pray for missionaries to be able to share the love of Jesus with them. To show them that they are children of God, they are perfect. They can have hope. With Jesus. Mingi is not in my vocabulary.
So glad to be drawn from water today. ♥ Praising my Savior.
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