heal the broken & break the proud

If you only follow this blog, not my facebook/tumblr/pinterest, you're probably wondering about my wedding.  And I'm going to tell you all about it and show you pictures soon, but this is more important.  The wedding was the best day of my life, but what I need to tell you about today is life long and eternal.


I've been interning at the pregnancy center for the last several weeks.  Lots of observing sessions, envelope stuffing, sitting through parenting videos, etc.  Today I got to be the counselor and was observed by my advisor.


I love my internship.  I am 100% dedicated and passionate about everything the pregnancy center does.  I was skeptical going in.  I was scared that I was going to be judgmental or intimidated.  I was nervous.  But as I've watched people and learned the swing of things, I've fallen even more in love with my job.  It's incredible.  It's the most humbling thing.  Sometimes I think it's even more humbling than doing work with orphans in Africa or prostitutes in India.  Because these girls, I could have been.  If I would have made one wrong move in the 10th grade, I could have gone into a different group of friends and had a totally different life.  I could be 19 with two kids.  I could be a 21 year old smoker with an abusive boyfriend trying to get an abortion.  I could be 15 taking honors classes on the varsity basketball team with a positive pregnancy test.  I could be single 34 and pregnant for the 8th time.  I could be.  [Those are just examples, not actual people I've met.]


Today, for my first client ever, I had the most broken girl my supervisor said I would probably ever have.  She said it would only be easier.  I guess they broke me in good today.  I left the center heartbroken.  My spirit was so heavy I felt like vomiting.  They say carrying others burdens is a weighty task.  That couldn't be more the truth in this field of work.  


I got to share the gospel with this girl - a girl with no religion who had never really heard the real gospel.  A hurting, broken girl who knows pain and suffering more than most.  I got to tell her that Jesus loves her and forgives her.  She knows she's sinful and dirty.  She didn't need me to remind her of the law of God that she has broken.  So I didn't.  I told her about God's grace and mercy and love.  His Father love, His Daddy love that this little one did not have.  


I left the pregnancy center upset and heavy-hearted.  I drove straight to the bible study my husband and I go to on Thursday nights.  I wrapped myself in my husbands arms and told him I wanted to cry for this girl.  The night went on.  We shared a meal with the body of Christ and this bible study, then we opened the Word; and wow was the Spirit there.  We studied Mark 10.  We have this incredible way of studying the bible through observation, interpretation, and application.  The section we worked through tonight was "The Rich Young Ruler."  I'm sure everyone can recall that story.  The rich young ruler asks Jesus how he can have eternal life, Jesus tells him to sell everything he owns, he leaves unhappy.  As we talked through it, I had some major revelation.  


Whenever a broken, sick, injured, hurting person came to Jesus, Jesus healed them.  I could give you a thousand cross references, but I'll just tell you to read any of the gospels and you'll see it.  


However, when this rich young ruler who had "never" broken the Law came to Jesus, Jesus broke him.  He was humbled, his "spirituality" was shattered. 


I've never understood evangelism like this before.  We don't have to shove sin in the broken's face to convince them to repent and follow Jesus.  We have to love them and show them our Father's love.  We have to tell them the good news!  But the proud have to be broken.  We have to show them the Law and help them to see that they are not a saint, but were born a sinner because of the Fall.  


Heal the broken & break the proud.


Give them all Jesus. 


Amen.

wet kisses

Haiti is a tragedy.

And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
Mark 10:16

Today I ditched my pharmacy team to snatch up some sad looking Haitian kids. Before I knew it, two hours had gone by and I had about eight kids piled up all around me, hanging on my neck, playing with my hair, pulling at my skin, gabbing to me in a language I can't understand, giving me the utter feeling of complete and perfect happiness. You may say, Casey, you're not experiencing perfect happiness, you're not in heaven. But Jesus loved kids. And I love Jesus. And I want to be like Jesus. I want to do what Jesus did. Jesus put kids on His lap and held them. I'm sure Jesus was happy in that moment. But that's beside the point.

Jesus layed hands on the kids in His lap and blessed them. This morning I prayed that I would do what Jesus did, speak what Jesus spoke, hear what Jesus heard, walk where Jesus walked, etc. While sitting with my gorgeous Haitian sweeties, the Lord told me to pray for them. Bronchitis was probably one of the most common illnesses in children today at the clinic, and I getting bronchitis several times a year, know exactly what it feels like. Several of the girls on my lap where coughing pretty bad. I could hear the weezes and the phelm. I put my hands on the lungs of one girl as she sat on my leg. As the other girls played with my hair, I began to ask the Lord to heal this little one. I authentically just talked to the Lord about her and about her sweet little lungs. After probably 5 or 10 minutes, she just began to smile... Her arms wrapped around my neck, and the kid didn't leave my side for the next hour. She just grinned and loved on me. Wet kisses from my Haitian princess. (He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes of their people. Psalm 113:7-8).

No, she didn't tell me her chest stopped hurting. No, she didn't say that she could breathe better. But that smile was enough. That smile told it all; answered any question I could ever have.

And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
Mark 10:16