Humbled by His Plans

Right now, I am excited. Full of anticipation. Curious and nervous, yes. Overall, I feel joy at a journey God is taking His people on. And I know His great love.

But from everlasting to everlasting
   the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
   and his righteousness with their children’s children—
¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
   and remember to obey his precepts.

Psalm 103: 17-18

Once itself a mission, my church is embarking on a new mission. The endeavor God is directing my church to lies in my college town of Ames, Iowa. A town I have a heart for, while still knowing my calling remains at The Ridge.

The parent denomination selected Prairie Ridge to birth a church in Ames, bringing on a pastor God provides, and launching into a calling God has placed before us. What a gift and a blessing that God would lead us here. In 1998, we started in living rooms. Today, we have grown well beyond that, but maintain the church is people, not a facility.

How humbling that I would be invited to support such a great call. My Lord has painted a beautiful scene of love in my life, and in the lives of so many today. He will keep painting for others. I love being in on these plans God has.

I’m thinking of Jeremiah 29:11:

"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord.

"Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

Plans to give you a hope and a future."

I wonder what Ames residents will see God’s great plans for themselves individually, because on the whole the people of The Ridge saw His plans for them to support the adventure.

What a joy to support a new local church. What a wise choice for our denominational leadership to look at Ames, where 80 percent of residents are missing out on the church experience.

And as our facility is bursting at the seams with people – bouncing babies on up – we’re also embarking on a capital campaign for an addition. Classrooms, common areas, even a special needs room.

Yes, praise God, more parking, and better handicapped parking and access. What a joy that we can do this, with God’s help. What deep respect I have for our leadership to commit to doing it without incurring debt.

Today, we continue to put spiritual formation as above all of that. We continue to focus on our call to go and make disciples. To draw close in intimate relationship with our Maker individually. To bring God glory. So, the campaign project and the church launch in Ames really are connected.

Today, the Mission Navajo team loaded a trailer with donations our church collected, largely coats and blankets, but also some clothes, and food and toiletries from third-grade classes.

At home, manila folders are stuffed with meeting notes and devotional plans. My office door has sticky note lists on it. My children and I are embarking on a mission trip to the Navajo Reservation together with a team from The Ridge. Leading us is a friend who grew up on the reservation.

While there, a long list of projects awaits, food donations, chopping wood, leading worship and Sunday School, building a wheelchair ramp and just plain loving on people. You can follow our team’s activities at http://thefieldjournal.blogspot.com/.

Seeing all these plans of God’s that my church family, my children, husband and I are sharing in, even in this imperfect world, why would I not feel joy?



©Helene Bergren. All Rights Reserved.

Mission Navajo

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Romans 12: 9-12 NLT

In just a few short weeks, my children and I will travel with a team of 17 people from our church to the Navajo Reservation in the American Southwest. Wow.

2011 marks year three for our family’s participation in the trip, and we pray God uses each of us in ways that glorify Him, through sharing the gospel, encouraging, serving and loving others.

Tammy, Janelle, team leader and Navajo, Helene
at Canyon de Chelly, Navajo Reservation, AZ

So, as the time approaches, some concepts are dancing across my heart and mind.

·      Esteeming the poor

·      Sacrificial giving

·      Loving my neighbor

·      Compassion, mercy and grace

·      Defending the weak

·      Spiritual warfare

·      Gratitude and Blessings

·      Humility

As we prepare for the trip, I am watching and noticing myself, and my life. I’m considering my children, who they are and who God Almighty is building them to be.

I wonder how He will use this mission trip to invite my children closer to Him. I wonder what He will do in me. How will He use me? My kids? Our whole team? This year, what moments will draw me to tears at His work, goodness and the ways of my brothers and sisters in Christ on the team and down there? How will God spark in me love for the lost, His kind of love?

I remember. Some on the reservation live in octagon-shaped homes called hogans, often with dirt floors, by choice. The unemployment rate is 70 percent. The landscape is brushed with orange, rust, and brown tones that God has blended into mountains and rock formations that display His majesty. I think about The Long Walk, and what it would be like to grow up knowing this is part of the heritage and wounds of your people.

Navajo people in the area where we will serve anticipate our arrival, and I am excited to see people who I met there. I am thrilled to enjoy the blessing of seeing people who shared their history with me last year, and in doing so, taught me. I’m thinking about the extreme poverty. I remember the Navajo youth who live on the special education campus in St. Michael, so they can receive the services they need, in terms of health and education.

I’m thinking about the slight bit of nerves I have at taking my children about seven states away from their dad, my amazing husband, for more than a week. I’m thinking about his week of solitude, less than a month after he starts a new career path. I’m thinking about what it might feel like to him, to not be going along this year.

As I replay events of the previous trips to the Reservation in my mind, I experience a jumble of needs - physical, emotional and spiritual - that I want to be part of fulfilling. It makes a long enough Dorcas the Do-Gooder list. Yet, I know only God is big enough to provide. All good things come from Him.

I look forward to bonding with team members on the long drive down. I look forward to laughter and friendship happening all around me. I know it won't be easy. I know the Enemy won't like what we want to do. But I also know He who is in me, is greater than he who is in the world.

Dear Lord,

You are the God of grace and peace, perfect. You are love. Please help us to help people. I am blessed Lord. Please simply use me as your vessel. Use our team. Show yourself all around the Navajo Reservation. I pray for the salvation of many. Help us to spread your love and care. Bring sustained change, please, Lord. Raise people up, to your glory.  Please help each of our team members and their whole families to be safe and deeply knit to you.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen

Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

Psalm 82:3

©Helene Bergren. All Rights Reserved.

Delight

Delight. What a broad spectrum of moments delight me. What a gift from God.

For Christmas, my sister gave me a cupcake stand I have wanted for a few years. I was excited on Christmas when I opened the package. Then, when I made cupcakes for our small group a few weeks ago — fun, fun — the time came to assemble the little cream-colored kitchen accessory. 

When I opened the package, out came not only the swirly cupcake spots arranged in tiers, but a handy dandy little tool. A shiny little silver crescent wrench in Barbie — or GI Joe action figure — proportions. Pretty funny. I have to credit God with a good giggle fit. Not a deep moment, but delightful.

In the Bible, God shares a lot of different facts, or perspectives, about delight. We can learn in God’s Word what delights Him, how Christ delighted crowds with His teaching (Mark 12:37 NLT), that we as His followers delight in Him, and, sadly, what delights the wicked.

With right priorities, this emotion brings something important to the tables of our lives with the One who made us. It signals what matters to us.

The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Psalm 147:11

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So, it’s good to pray for delight, and in my ladies’ small group, we were encouraged to do just that. God answered me in two especially loving ways.

Rewind to fall of the year 2000. Our daughter, Daphne, was two years old, and I was preparing to leave her, her sister, Jess, and their dad for the weekend. I was leaving for our church’s women’s retreat I had helped plan. But a serious illness got in the way.

Ultimately, I took Daphne to the hospital, learning after a spinal tap, that she had a serious blood infection, and that some cases of meningitis had been popping up in our area. God our Healer, using a wonderful team of physicians and medicine, protected her. No meningitis. And after just a few days, no more blood infection, either. Praise Him!

Back to our life today. At Christmas in the Taste & See blog I challenged readers to donate to Compassion International from a list of donation choices the organization provides for special gifts at Christmas. I chose a vaccine-related gift and made a small donation. (Glad that He multiplies the fish.)

Then in a thank-you e-mail from the people at Compassion International a few weeks ago, I learned my Compassion giving for vaccination was used specifically to vaccinate people overseas against meningitis. The gift and connection to my daughter’s illness warmed my heart; it delighted me.

And another delight arose. During spring break the last two years our family participated in Mission Navajo at Prairie Ridge Church, Ankeny, Iowa. (www.ridgelife.org) This year will make year three, though my husband will not be able to go with us. Right away after I prayed for God to delight me, my son, David’s, teacher called to volunteer and get the third-grade kids involved in Mission Navajo. Go, God!

This wise, caring educator, in our public school, heard my Navajo friend speak to her class, learned about the needs and our trip, and saw the kids’ passion. Then she reached out to coordinate donations the kids will be bringing. Of course, it’s a public school, so they won’t be collecting Bibles. But God can and will indeed use this teacher’s initiative and the children’s and their families’ love and generosity.

What a refreshing gift delight makes.



©Helene Bergren. All Rights Reserved.

Faith and the Global Food Crisis

Hunger. On a global scale, this problem looms large. For the first time, in 2009, the number of hungry people in the world hit 1 billion. Then in September 2010, the UN reported a decline in that number for the first time in 15 years. But it didn’t go away, not at all.

Now, as we look around the world at food riots and unrest about food security in many regions, the problem may be growing more tangible to us. To me. 

Why do we need so much information before we reach out to help on scales that would astound, that would witness Christ in a practical, compassionate way? (Not that we’re doing nothing.)

It wasn’t always my dream to use my writing and communications talents to work in the agricultural industry. But for 16 years, that’s where my work has been concentrated. I’ve learned a lot along the way. And here I am, perhaps to be a voice in my circle of friends and acquaintances.

Working for a farm marketing organization, I see and hear a lot of information about crops, supply and demand for commodities and food situations globally. But you need to understand, I am not a broker or trader. I have no agricultural or ag business degrees. I’m no expert. Much of what I read, I honestly don’t fully understand.

Commodity Issues

But here’s some information. First, the world faced a rice shortage in 2008, now wheat is following. Russia has experienced drought, a big part of the problem for wheat supplies. The Brazilian soybean crop is not expected to be great, either. 

The game begins of countries replacing one crop with another for feed and food uses. Food grade is a higher quality than feed grade, because standards for human consumption are higher, of course. So, not everything is swappable, ultimately.

Also, in the U.S., cattle production is dropping, but it seems poultry production is replacing that protein source, though Americans, especially, generally still want their beef. Me, too! To some extent, these things cycle. Still, can you see that a lot is happening?

Organic or conventional production?
Then there’s the natural food equation. Organic food is great for people who need it, and who need special food sources, because of allergies and sensitivities, and just a desire to support that type of production.

But, conventional farmers take excellent care of their livestock and land as well, with a deep sense of responsibility to respect the land and livestock. Besides, if they mess up their animals or land, they won’t make any money or have decent land or healthy livestock, anyway. Conventional grain production results in higher yields, better to meet worldwide demand.

Not everyone agrees on the depth of the problem, and many factors feed into hunger. Corrupt governments (huge issue), transportation difficulties, and overconsumption by wealthy countries, to name a few.

Even the demand for corn and soybeans for bio-energy sources adds into the equation. My dad always said he was a farmer to feed people, not to provide energy, but I sure don’t blame farmers for trying to earn a living, and help provide for our fuel needs. He doesn’t, either.

Photo Title: Starved Girl. Public domain photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Global Concerns
So, this hunger situation hasn’t gone away. Logically, these crop and livestock situations around the world matter for hungry children in Algeria, where food riots have happened this year, and they happened in places like Haiti and Mozambique back in 2008, too. 

Demonstrations happened in Oman in mid-January and have occurred in Yemen and Tunisia, and an Iowa grain analyst said after Egypt (The autocracy is not the only issue there.), Saudi Arabia could be next. China is a problem, with a per capita income of $7,400 per year. Poverty causes hunger, too. 

What is up with our world and the food crisis?

Is it hard for most of us in the U.S. to understand, because all we’re feeling is a pinch in the pocketbook? Not to downplay the problems for those of us who are truly needy here in the States.

Only God knows the future when it comes to this food crisis. And what role is judgment playing in this? I’ll leave that discussion for another day.

It is frightening, if we allow ourselves to forget Who is in control. The Bible says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.” 2 Tim. 1:7 NLT

My dear family of Christ-followers, let's put the power, love and self-discipline we're given to work for good. Hopefully, our love and compassion are provoked. Jesus modeled such tenderness and mercy. We can follow His example with those same qualities, and add to them the good stewardship and generosity we’re called to live.

Q. So, what are we to do?

A. Help.

Here are a few ways to help:

https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/global-food-crisis.htm

https://www.rca.org/giveprojects (My denomination.)

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/food_crisis_in_niger/

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/a_harvest_of_blessings/

The best part of helping through a church or Christian ministry is the possibility that people will so respect our help, that they will want to know our motivation for helping.

Q. What’s our motivation?

A. Jesus

Here’s another blog about earning a hearing of the gospel of Christ. http://mychangedmind.com/?p=1267)

We can help, too, by praying. Specifically about issues detailed here, and about what we see in the news about hunger, food riots and related issues.  We can pray Scripture. We can pray for salvation. And certainly we help by praying for godly leadership worldwide, so that we can “lead peaceful and quiet lives.”

By helping the ministries mentioned in their efforts, we can help nursing mothers, young children and babies, teenagers, the elderly, young couples. Real people who are just trying to live. Each person we help, is a person who matters to God.



©Helene Bergren. All Rights Reserved.

I'm Not, I Am

I’m not homeless

I’m not hungry

And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV

I’m not lost

When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

[Jesus parable of the prodigal son.] Luke 15:6

I’m not hopeless

Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.

Psalm 25:5

 


I’m not powerless

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT

I’m not alone

You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God.

Ephesians 2:19 CEV

I’m not helpless

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.

Psalm 33:20 NIV

I’m not depressed

For the Lord delights in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.

Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them.
Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.

Psalm 149:4-6 NLT

Hard days. Pressing situations. Frustration.

Wounds. Confusion. For all of us. All real.

Still.

I am protected

You are kind, LORD,

so good and merciful.

You protect ordinary people,

and when I was helpless,

you saved me

and treated me so kindly

that I don't need

to worry anymore.

Psalm 116:5-7 CEV

I am comforted

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever--

John 14:16 Amplified Bible

I am loved

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

[Words of Christ] John 15:10-12 NIV

I am secure

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

“I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.” [Jesus speaking] Luke 12:6-9 NIV

I am gifted

Each of you has been blessed with one of God's many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well.

1 Peter 4:10 CEV

I am free

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Romans 6:22 NIV

I am blessed

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8 NIV

I am grateful

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 12:27-29 NIV

Sometimes, when I find emotions or confusion rising inside me, or lies that the enemy would have me believe, I find it comforting to review what I know to be true. I’m Not, I Am is fruit of one of those times.

I know God is true. I know He is faithful, even when I am not. I know I belong to Him alone. I know that my God and Savior wants me, and He wants you, too. What I am and what I am not that I recorded here, is all because of the saving relationship I have with Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, the plan of the Father. These truths for me, can be truths for you, too, if you choose to ask Jesus Christ into your life.

God doesn’t promise his followers continual ease here on Earth. But in Him, we receive strength to face the realities of this world, and the joy of eternity with Him. And, this I’m Not, I Am poem shares just a short list of the ways the One True God has blessed me, because He is the God of grace, mercy and love, not because I have earned it.

Scriptures copied and pasted from Biblegateway.com. 

Photo by Helene Bergren


©Helene Bergren. All Rights Reserved.

Christmas letter, a Scraggly Tree and Jesus

Whoosh. Christmas is sledding our way like a wind gust bringing in a storm. Except Christmas is good.

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18 New Living Translation

Mmmm, Christmastime. I enjoy writing and sending a Christmas letter - trying to assure it’s a good balance of honest and upbeat, happy for activities and accomplishments, but not prideful. I like having the Christmas letter reason to stay in touch with far flung family and friends. At Christmas, I shop at more stores and for more people at once than I ever would choose to in such a short time frame. And repeatedly, I experience this as my busiest time of year for my bread-and-butter (and gravy, too) freelance writing client. Still, I enjoy this time of year. Whoosh.

One of our two family Christmas trees, we call Grandma Betty’s Charlie Brown Christmas tree. A few years before her death, my mother-in-law scaled down her Christmas decorating. She started using this, um, scraggly, not fully-filled-out-with-branches, three-foot tree, adorned it with her gold garland and some bright shiny bulbs - and some other ornaments I can’t recollect. She called it good. And it was. And is.

The little tree shows off its sweetness in our front window, perched on the dress-up clothes chest. Even with my yearnings for all things pretty, I love this tree. It makes me smile. My mother-in-law knew what she could handle as joints bothered her more each year, and she dealt with bigger health issues. She also knew the true meaning of Christmas.

He [Jesus] came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn – not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

John 1:10-13 NLT

Maybe this little tree ought to remind me how Jesus humbled Himself to step down here to Earth as an infant, fully God, fully man. It actually does each year.

I love our seven-foot tree, too. It came with the lights woven into it. Pretty handy. The white lights make the icicles, the old-fashioned pink ornaments, the royal blue, silver and gold bulbs, the nativity ornaments, the little sequined high-heel and our children’s  school-made ornaments glisten in the darkened family room with the fireplace roaring. A white doily angel stands wings still sort-of spread, on top of the tree, a precious-after-20-years wedding gift.

I love Christmas music, too. O Come All Ye Faithful. What Child is This? The Little Drummer Boy. Silver Bells. O Holy Night. White Christmas. Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Christmas in Iowa. (Look it up, if you haven’t heard of it.) Yes, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Red Baron, too.

I love giving gifts. I love seeing our children receive. I anticipate with joy serving in our church nursery at worship on Dec. 23. I am thrilled that my husband and I will serve communion on Christmas Eve. I love spending time with my siblings, nieces and nephews, and parents. I look forward to hosting Christmas with my side of the family this year. Also, yes, I love receiving gifts.

More than all of that, the love of Jesus, takes my breath away. His love brings me to grateful, joyful tears. The true meaning of Christmas means my eternity is secure, because I accepted his gift of new life with the One who paid my immeasurable indebtedness in sin. Because after living a productive life of loving, teaching, rebuking, performing miracles and more, Jesus was beaten and willingly died an excruciating death — yet three days later. Three days later came His resurrection.

Seems a long way from the humble accommodations a desperate innkeeper could provide, a long way from a birth in a stable in Bethlehem. Seems a long way from a host of angels announcing to humble shepherds the birth of the Messiah. Seems a long way from when Baby Jesus was presented at the temple. Seems a long way from wise men visiting little Jesus. Seems a long way from Egypt, where Mary and Joseph fled with Him when God warned them to protect Him from Herod’s plan to kill Baby Jesus.

“That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

Matthew 2:14-15 NLT

The resurrection seems a long way from the true meaning of Christmas. But it isn’t. It’s all part of God’s great plan. A plan of love, grace, mercy and sacrifice.

As much as it cost God the Father, the God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, in physical and emotional pain, it’s a gift I gladly accepted in faith when I was a child. A gift I remain grateful for today, through difficulties and in times of ease.

Is Jesus Christ a gift you will open for the first time this Christmas? Is He a gift you already opened and have, but need to fully savor in a regular relationship, seeking Him continually?

The confidence of my eternal destination is a gift, a great gift from God. Knowing Heaven is what lies ahead for me, not because I am worthy or wonderful, but because I worship a God of love, grace, mercy and compassion, gives me great hope.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. 1 John 5:1a

I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

I want you to know you have eternal life. Please open the gift of Jesus this Christmas.



©Helene Bergren. All Rights Reserved.

Save a Life, Love like Christ

I love Christmas. I love that our God gave us the real meaning of it – the birth of our Savior. A baby boy.  My Savior.

When I try to imagine “how wide, how long, how deep his love is,” as it is said in Ephesians 3:18 that God’s people should understand, I just can’t. I think, and furrow my brows. My eyes dart as I try to picture it. I take a breath and sigh, because the idea that God Himself would come to this Earth, humbly, and live out life as a human. That's too much. And then He chose to die, for me.

I can conjure up an image of Mary giving birth in a cave stable, where the birth of Jesus is believed to happen. I can see Him working hard as a carpenter.  I think I can see Him laying hands and healing. But His love for me, when I really try to understand it, I don’t understand. Yet I know it’s true, faithful. And I am so grateful.

His love, I cannot grasp, even though it holds me together.

When I rest in prayer and ponder it, I love it.

So, shouldn’t I do something to spread that love? Weren’t we given the Great Commission. But how?

Here’s one way. Use the connections the ministry Compassion International offers. Yes, Compassion, the global child sponsorship organization.

As we skate toward Dec. 25, wrapping paper scraps littering carpets, and Christmas music playing around us, I would like to offer you an idea.

Before you decide on your gift for that person who is blessed to have so-called everything, would you also please buy a gift for someone who has almost nothing?

Compassion International offers a gift catalog. Shopping online is easy and convenient. Yes, we can shop online even for someone who lives 7,000 miles away on a continent and in a country where you cannot even picture the lifestyle or culture.

http://gifts.compassion.com/?utm_source=blogger-network&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=blogger-network_giftCat

In a country plagued with malaria mosquito nets save lives.

Maybe you want to give money for a cow that could be used for milk to sustain a family, and generate income.

Want to help with beauty, mechanic, or bakery career training?

A soccer ball?

Other choices?

Here’s the link again:

http://gifts.compassion.com/?utm_source=blogger-network&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=blogger-network_giftCat

It brings tears to my eyes that I long for a home with more space, while Compassion lists toilet stalls, water and water filters – as Christmas gifts. But oh, how Christ-like to give something like that. I pray blessings on those who do. How kind. What a good way to let that indescribable love help with critical needs.

Consider what moves your heart. Here’s what I chose and why: With each of our children, I’ve watched as doctors or medics tended to them in truly life-threatening situations.

I want to protect a child. Actually, God’s way better at that than I am. And I want God to use me to shelter a mother from at least one thing she has to fear. I am blessed to be a blessing. So, I chose to pay for a vaccine.

What will you choose? Please, please help today. And thanks! Way to love!



©Helene Bergren. All Rights Reserved.