meet me at the well

Remember this post,

where I asked for prayers for my sister's pastor & his wife?

They had just lost their 4-year old daughter, Makiah, in a car accident.

A family friend of theirs is selling well charms in honor of Makiah.

About 2 weeks before the accident, Makiah's Sunday School class talked about raising money to build a well for children in Africa.

She was so moved by this story, she told her mom that she wanted to give all of the money in her piggy bank so the girls in Africa could have water to drink.

What is so cool about this story,

is the lady who approached them about selling these charms had no idea that this happened.

It was a total God thing.

{via}

Once 600 charms are sold.

Cameron & Rachel will receive a packet with pictures of the dedication of Makiah's Well.

Right now 308 charms have sold.

I purchased one for myself and 4 more as Christmas gifts.

I love giving gifts with meaning behind them.

Three of the charms are for my sister and two nieces.

They were all close to Makiah.

And my nieces will think it is pretty cool to have something that honors Makiah's memory.

The charm is actually really cute.

I like the fact that the charm has some weight to it.

It will help me remember to be thankful for every single moment I can spend with those I love.

Because you never know if that hug, smile, shared laugh, or even text will be the last one.

This is the link to the facebook group, Makiah Kaitlyn King Well Project, that was set up for the charms.

And this is the link to donate directly to the well project without purchasing a charm.

Thank you so much to any who consider buying a charm or donating to honor Makiah's memory.

Please continue to keep Cameron & Rachel in your prayers.

Thanks!

Also this is the link to Rachel's blog, An Unexpected Journey.

Just make sure you have some tissues handy before you visit it.

This is Rachel's explanation for why she started blogging.

I have never wanted to be a blogger until this morning (10/23). For some reason I awoke feeling the need to share this journey. My four year old daughter was killed in a tragic car accident on October 8th, 2010 when our car was struck by a teen on marijuana. This blog is a small window into the brokenness of my heart and perhaps... one day, the healing. Do not mistake this for theological discourse. Jesus, not our circumstances, equals perfect theology. Be warned, this is raw...

prayer request

Tonight, my sister's Pastor (Cameron) and his family were in a bad car accident. 

They were all rushed to the hospital and Rachel and Makiah were put in ICU. 

Makiah, their 4 year old daughter, did not make it. 

Rachel is also pregnant with twins and on partial bed rest. 

Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers. 

Praying for protection of Rachel and the twins.

Praying for strength and peace to make it through this time. 

Praying that God will embrace them with comfort that only He can give.

My sister kept Makiah while Rachel and Cameron worked, until she started preschool, please keep her in you prayers as well. 

And please remember their entire church family. Makiah was a well-loved little girl!

I just absolutely CANNOT imagine what they are going through right now. 

My heart is breaking for them. 

standing in the gap

Have you ever heard a sermon that really just touched your heart?

That is what this morning's message was like for me.

Pastor T was talking about "standing in the gap."

Standing in the gap means to go before God on others' behalf.

In order to stand in the gap you need to be faithful, unselfish, and persistent.

Faithful in believing God's will is best.

Unselfish in our motives for praying for others.

And persistent in our prayers by not giving up when things do not happen on our time table.

We all have a tendancy to just pray for the people in our circle,

but we need to develop a city-view, country-view,

even a world-view when it comes to lifting others up in prayer.

One thing that really convicted me was when the Pastor pointed out that this means that we also need to stand in the gap for our "enemies."

You know how there are just those people who rub you the wrong way?

And when something bad happens you think, "Well, what comes around, goes around," or "They are getting what they deserve."

This is where my toes started hurting;)

We are not supposed to think this way.

We are supposed to pray that God would bless them just like we do for our family.

Sometimes that is just REALLY hard to do.

Especially with those few people who live to make others miserable,

but God loves them just like he does everybody else.

I do not think I can really convey just how much this message convicted me and made me evaluate my prayer life.

I used to be one of those people that stood in the gap.

But somehow over the past few years, I have gotten into the horrible pattern of coming to God with a to-do list or "saving" the last 5 minutes before I go to sleep to actually pray.

I make excuses about being busy with school and work.

But that is all they are...excuses.

Prayer does not have to be complicated.

Prayer is anytime we spend with God.

There does not even have to be words;

He knows our hearts better than we do.

I am going to be working on my prayer life and hopefully become one of those that stands in the gap for others again.

If you have made it to the end of this post, thank you!

I hope that I made a little bit of sense and that you were blessed by it.

{click on pics for source}

thoughts & prayers

I am requesting your thoughts & prayers for one of my closest friends from high school, 'H.'

'H', the BFF, and I were known as the 3 musketeers because we did everything together.

And we were always perfect little angels;)

'H' joined the Air Force shortly after high school.

She has been stationed in some pretty cool places in the past 8 years.

Some of her favs have been Okinawa and London.

She has 2 gorgeous little boys: ages 3 & 2.

Her husband is also in the military and they have gotten really lucky in the past with being stationed together.

But last week 'H' was deployed to Afganistan.

She is tentatively supposed to be there 180 days, but you know how things can change with the military.

So I am asking y'all to remember her and her family in your prayers.

Please pray for her safety and that the boys will cope well in the next few months.

They are young so I am sure they do not really understand what is going on.

'H' has been able to talk to them through Skype pretty regularly and that is a blessing!

Isn't it amazing how the internet can make the world shrink?

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts & prayers!!