Honor or Charity?

There is a difference between bestowing honor and giving charity.

Last week was Nat'l Hot Fudge Sundae Day. I know, a big holiday, huh? :)  For my family, it was. It was our first annual, nat'l hot fudge sundae delivery day. We spent the afternoon buying supplies and hosting ice cream sundae parties at a safe house for abused women, a church housing homeless families and then a home for at risk youth. It was a SUPER fun day. But during the day, one of the women who finds herself homeless right now said something interesting to me.....she said "will you and your friend (Alicia and her kiddos came too!) come back and do this again? The churches that host are nice, but the people don't really talk to us."

No offense to those running that program....I'm sure they were trying to serve the Lord well by serving others. But I think they missed an opportunity here. You can easily serve someone and give to charity without bestowing honor on that person.

Yes, I believe we should give to those in need. Heck, if you'd like to...I'm still in need of just over $2,000 to fund some training and a few group loans :)  Click on the paypal button to your right :)  But more than that....we have the unique opportunity in this world to see people. To truly see them. To see their pain and cry with them, hurt with them, mourn with them. To see their value and to bestow honor on them.

Viviane's purchases for her mamas!

This is what is happening all over the US as I prepare to leave for Uganda. I am not getting email after email about how sad life in Uganda must be and how they just had to give to these poor people. Nope. I am getting emails about people shopping for women who are dear to their hearts. I know have 7 or 8 women across the US who have purchased cows in the past, now going to buy gifts for their mamas. These women bought cows months ago and received the life stories of the women who received those cows. This united these women who have never met and who live thousands of miles apart. My friends here in the US have cried tears of joy over the pictures of their "sisters" getting their cow. My friends have prayed over the names and stories of the women in Uganda. And now...they are shopping. Chantel and her girls went and bought soaps and beautiful pins and lovingly wrote cards and prayed over their mamas.  Viviane spent today shopping for earrings, lotions and more and was practically GIDDY! Her friends from FB got in the game and want to check their homes and do shopping too. Becca emailed me tonight asking if she could buy things online and have them shipped to me. My friend Bobbi is sending cards and some money for each of the mamas in her group! My mama, Granny, Lisa and sister Brittani went shopping yesterday and had a blast picking out gifts for the children we will see as well as the mamas....taking care with every single purchase to make sure the mamas would feel absolutely special and the kids would know they are loved.

For EACH and EVERY person, their desire has been to bestow honor. So many people tell me "please go hug our mamas and tell them how much we love them". These friends of mine see the difference. They realize the opportunity we have in life to bestow honor like our God would do. That was His specialty. He took the woman at the well and bestowed honor on her by speaking to her when others wouldn't dare. He knelt in the dirt with the woman caught in adultery and took away her shame and her accusers. He bestowed honor on the women who served Him by showing Himself to them first. He bestowed honor on the woman of the night who covered His feet with her tears and her hair. He spent His days truly seeing people and bestowing honor on them. He showed them through His actions how He saw them, through eyes of love. And love changes everything.

Join me in choosing to bestow honor on the people around us by seeing them, truly seeing them as He does and loving them like crazy.