Together, we can sure make a big difference in the lives of the ones that God brings into our lives.
Dear Team,
Many of you will remember this heartwarming story.
A somewhat cynical person observes a young boy as he frantically rescues as many of the thousands and thousands of starfish that were stranded on the wet sandy beach as the morning tide escaped.
Seeing the starfish beached and drying out in the morning sun, the little boy tried his best to carry as many of the starfish back into the lapping water as was possible. The observer’s lone comment to the harried boy was that he wasn’t making much of a difference because the starfish were so numerous.
The story continues as the little boy looked down at the starfish in his hands and remarked that what he was doing was going to make a big difference to at least this one.
As of the middle of March, BBC in London reported that 3.2 million people now are labeled refugees from Ukraine. Many of them are the elderly, women, and children. There are an estimated 1.85 million internally displaced people inside Ukraine.
The immediate needs to help this many people are almost incalculable. This need is only exceeded by the amount of heartbreak and fear that has also moved slowly, clandestinely, hovering over these precious souls that just want to be safe and free from the impending chaos and abuse.
Ukrainians waiting at the border of Romania.
Photo by Adi Ban
We clearly are not able to help all of them. But together, we can sure make a big difference in the lives of the ones that God brings into our lives.
Many of our dear supporters will never be on the frontlines as our Polish and Romanian partners are, but are none-the-less an equal part of making a big difference to many, many wounded and emotionally broken people that God has specifically directed to our partners and their teams who will show and speak the love and hope of our Heavenly Father.
ITMI's Jim La Rose caring for Ukrainian refugee children.
A Polish pastor who listens to our partner Piotr Zaremba’s Sunday messages online, and whose church swelled three times larger to 30 people due to the influx of the Ukrainian refugees, said that he believed that God had sent the Ukrainian "missionaries” to come and minister to the Polish.
God knows that over 95% of the Poles profess to be Catholic, yet struggle deeply with their spiritual journey and themselves live in mind-numbing hopelessness.
Imagine seeing Ukrainians in your country, who have lost everything, and yet who know and trust the Lord and His sovereignty over their lives and journeys, singing praise to the Lord for His provision. It has to deeply impact the hopeless of their host country’s lost yet seemingly comfortable souls.
Ukrainians minister to their hosts in a Polish church on a Sunday morning with an impromptu choir performance.
Please understand that this devastation we’re experiencing is not what we would call a sprint, it most assuredly will be more of a marathon, before any form of normalcy is experienced by not only the refugees but by all of us who have been blessed and called to help those in need, especially those called widows and orphans.
May we, as Paul wrote to the Galatians, “ not become weary in doing good.” May we not let our human, earthly eyes guide the extent of our efforts to help offer God’s love.
May we see and understand as God sees and understands what He is doing in allowing these people to be thrown into such need and stripped of any personal capabilities to care for themselves. May we prayerfully seek to be even more obedient in being God’s hands and feet.
May we rest in our Father’s ability to supply all our needs, according to His riches in glory.
Thank you for rolling up your sleeves and making a big, big difference in the ones we have touched and the ones that we will touch as God leads us.
In His Service,
