December 2010
Dearest Family and Friends: Merry Christmas.
Jesus says to come to him when we are weary and burdened. That he is gentle and humble in heart. He asks us to come to him and take up his yoke that is easy and light and gives us rest. (Check out Luke 11:28-30). God gives these words to Isaiah for Israel: “For this is what the high and lofty One says – he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live on a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” Israel chose to turn away from God over and over and over throughout the history written in the Old Testament of the Bible.
But He never abandons Israel.
He never abandons the children I see every day. The same children you have prayed for this year.
He never abandons us.
Isn’t that such a mystery? Because we sure don’t deserve it. But He loves us.
He hangs up His glory (“He wraps himself in light as with a garment”…see Psalm 104 for more detail) and becomes one of us. God sends Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. They sinned. I sin. We can’t get back there, right? We try to be good enough and give enough and balance things perfectly. But in the end, the emptiness inside us is like some ravenous beast that we have to keep feeding in order to “measure up” to something.
God blocked the path back to Eden, the path to that tree of life with a crazy flaming sword and fierce angels (no joke. See Genesis 3:24). So how can God not abandon us? Doesn’t this show the opposite?
Jesus enters into our world as a human, turns the religious establishment a bit on it’s head, and dies. We know the story. He is crucified. Then comes the resurrection. And with it, hope. Hope that we can come to God. Hope that he can make us new. And He demonstrates that he never abandons us. Not even death, or the intense grief we feel when we’re separated from someone by death, keeps Him away.
So I am reminded this Christmas season of the hope we have because we are not abandoned. Admittedly, sometimes I want to cry out against God because in the kids at the orphanage I only see Esau and Ishmael before me. The ones not chosen. Why are they not chosen? But as I reflect on Jesus as a tiny baby born in a crappy barn, who slept very near animal spit, I am reminded that he comes to us in a humble way. He indeed chooses the children with whom I rub shoulders. Jesus is with these children, the contrite and lowly. The weary and burdened. He holds out hope to them. He extends love to them.
My prayer for these kids, and all of us, really, is that God would soften their hearts to be able to understand this. To understand and believe that although it feels like they have been completely abandoned, He has not abandoned them.
Thank you for praying for the kids, our team, and me this year. Thank you for financially supporting me so that I can be here with these kids. Please keep praying. I have included my budget for 2011 with this letter as the end of the year approaches and we re-evaluate our giving. Feel free to email any questions you have: annie.m.keith@gmail.com. Please consider continuing to give next year.
Merry Christmas!!
Much love,
Annie