What a month it has been in preparation for Feed My Starving Children's second annual Partner Conference, a gathering of all its mission partners to introduce them to each other and discuss new strategies that will result in more efficient operations, complementary relationships, and in the end, more children fed, in body and in spirit. The whole theme was "The Velocity of Hunger" and Psalm 70:5 which says, "Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!"
Last year we hosted about 25 partners, and this year 75! We had partners fly into Florida from Swaziland, Haiti, El Salvador, and all over the United States. We had logistics partners and "our" nutrionist join us as well. What an amazing group of people to meet! You have to understand what a blessing it is to see them face-to-face, as I typically only get to talk to them on the phone or over email. Sometimes I had to stop and wonder, "How did I get to be a part of this?"
As I sit here in my hotel room trying to process all that has transpired, my first response is to sincerely thank the Lord for His presence with us, for proving faithful in connecting His body! For such a time and place is this that the Lord has brought us together to build each other up and encourage one another to do good works for the glory of the Lord.
Ephesians 4:1,16, "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received... From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
It's easy to get discouraged some days when you think about how desperate our world is, in body and in spirit. But as I learn more and more to embrace all that comes with life-conflict, your "calling", challenges, burdens-I continually realize something that gives me purpose in doing what I'm doing here at this place and time: It is better to experience and live out the heart of God (and in doing so, better understand how much He loves all of us) than to live indifferently with no burden or angst for His children to know Him. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1 Praise God that He equips us to go into the world for the advancement of His Kingdom!
I guess I'm just thankful. It's difficult to articulate any other emotion at the moment. After sharing and collaborating with all our partners-even as an introvert-I have gained enormous energy and experienced overwhelming joy in seeing the body of Christ coming together. We're excited to move forward!
Thanks for processing this with me! :)
Much love,
Abby
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