love is for the unloved

This past weekend was a great/stressful weekend! Our church had their disciple now weekend and I was a leader along with two other friends to 20 eighth grade girls. To say the least it was a restless and fun filled weekend. It was really nice to be able to have one last party with my some of my students before I leave for China. The pictures below are from Saturday afternoon, our dnow group went to a homeless/battered women's shelter to help with yard work. We were there for 2 hours and the first hour we had the assistant director explain a little to us and our girls about what their ministry does on a daily basis. This ministry was an amazing one. We learned all kinds of statistics about domestic abuse and the ways this ministry ministers to these often hopeless women. Just to share a few stats that blew me away:

-Oklahoma is the 6th highest state for domestic abuse state in the USA

-Oklahoma is the 3rd highest state for deaths caused by domestic abuse in the USA

-In 2009 alone Tulsa, Oklahoma has had (as of this past saturday) 7 women killed because of domestic abuse. That 7 deaths in 20+ days.

-The three top occupations for domestic abusers are Police Man, Fireman, & Minister

-The average woman that is a victim of domestic abuse returns to her domestic abuser 13 times. 

This is my group of girls after we raked leaves for an hour. The girls had awesome servants hearts and had great attitudes while we froze outside.

The lovely 8th grade girls of BattleCreek

After visiting a place like this the message for Saturday night was absolutely perfect. The theme of the service was that "Love is for the unloved" or the "unlovely". It resonated with our students and with the leaders very heavily after spending an afternoon serving these beautiful women that someone had found "unlovely". But God found these women and children beautiful and worth loving. And of course everything makes me think of the children in Luoyang so I thought about how true that statement is for orphan care as well. Gods desire is for us as followers of him to be love to those that the world has labeled "unlovely". 

This week has also been a very hard week for several different reasons but it is apparent that the spiritual warfare has officially begun. I've been heavily attacked on several different areas as I prepare to move to China. Which only makes my heart long for that place even more. God wants to move in these children's lives and in their hearts and the enemy is already trying to attack Gods plans. Please continue to pray for the China Home Foundation as they prepare to start their ministry in a place that is desperate for love and care. 

Love, Chrissy