One of the first scriptures I memorized as a little girl was Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
I can specifically remember turning in my Bible to that passage and then loving to read the rest of the chapter–especially verse 2:
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
I thought the picture of a slimy pit in the Bible was hilarious (maybe because I was a child of Double Dare?!).
Now as an adult I can see the beauty of the rest of this verse and the whole chapter:
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand…Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
As a Christian, I know how Jesus has pulled me out of slime and mud. I have a firm place to stand in my life because of Him. Not because of anything I’ve done. I’m the one that was been poor and needy. Jesus has been my help and my deliverer.
This morning as I was thinking about our Shoes2Share challenge and the many scriptures that involve feet (really, hundreds!!) Psalm 40 is the one that first came to mind. And I think it’s such a beautiful picture of what God let us be a part of.
There are thousands of poor and needy people. So needy they can’t provide shoes for themselves. And they need some help. They are patiently waiting and we’ve been given the opportunity to provide shoes to them. We’ve been given the chance to help them stand on firm ground. And with each pair of shoes, we’re coupling the message (via Shoes 2 Share) that Jesus loves them. That Jesus is their ultimate deliverer. He’s the one who is waiting for an invitation to pull them out of a spiritual slime and place them on a solid foundation for the rest of their lives.
I pray that the shoes we’ve collected brings this realization to hundreds of people. I pray my children see the connection between providing shoes and sharing Jesus.
I hope you took this same opportunity to reach out to others and to begin a lifestyle of giving with your children. If you did participate in our Shoes2Share challenge, we want to see what you did!
If you have a blog, please post about your experience and leave the link to your individual Shoes2Share post in the linky below. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to post a link to a picture on your facebook, flickr, photobucket or other photo sharing site. If you don’t do any of those, please leave us a comment, we’d love to see what you’ve done!
I’ll go first…
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