This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves
to be my disciples. John 15:8

Sephora

>> Wednesday, April 23, 2008

I love being a girl. I take great joy in getting dressed up and made up and bejeweled for a fun outing. Unfortunately, because I have a 3 year-old and a 19 month-old, those types of outings aren't as frequent as they once were. I only put on make-up at all 3-4 times a week (if that) and if you came to my door on a Wednesday afternoon or ran into me at Target, you would catch me in my yoga pants (not because I do yoga) or khakis and some sort of T-shirt. I think Oprah would call me a 'shlumpadinka'. But given the opportunity to get dolled up...I will jump at the chance. This is why I love Sephora. As my friend Gina would say....it's my "mother-ship". If someone dropped me at the mall with a thousand dollars and told me I was not allowed to spend it on my kids, I would spend most (if not all of it) at Sephora. Unfortunately, no one has done that lately, so my Sephora purchases are all splurges and not usually in the budget. As much as I love Sephora, I all too often leave there feeling guilty.

I also love American Idol (trust me....this is all going to come together). I am a die-hard fan who watches from the earliest, most painful, audition episodes, all the way to the finale, where I vote like a crazy person for whoever I have decided is worthy. The last two seasons (for those of you who live under a rock), AI has done a little show they call "Idol Gives Back", where they use the magnitude of their viewer-ship to raise money for a host of worthy charitable organizations. I haven't heard the final tallies from this year, but last year they raised $72 million! As God would have it, the same week Idol was giving back, I was signed up to pray for a team of friends from church who were ministering in the Sudan for 10 days. So for 5 days I was bombarded with images and thoughts and prayers for people in Africa and other third-world countries for whom clothing, food and clean water were splurges, let alone some fabulous new eye shadow from Sephora. I was mercifully convicted and forced to realize the fact that compared to most of the world, I live in the lap of luxury. I desperately wanted to DO something, but as I looked in the faces of the starving children who live half a world a way, I was overwhelmed. Anything I was capable of doing would be such a drop in the bucket, it felt insignificant. Yet I couldn't do nothing.

So I prayed some more and I was reminded of all the wonderful, Christ-centered organizations that allow us to "adopt" children in other countries. By giving them a VERY nominal amount of money, we can provide for the physical, educational and spiritual needs of a child, therefore changing their entire lives. I wandered onto Compassion International's website to browse. Because I had been praying for the Sudan, I was really looking for a child in Africa, but was open. I didn't know what I was looking for. All of the children were worthy and special, I could have done "eenie-meenie-mynie-moe" and it would have been fine. Then I saw her.

Her name is Sephora, and she lives in Haiti. Because of her name, I had to click on her picture to find out more. When I did, I began to cry. She was born on June 16, 2004. Before Mark and I ever had Elijah and Micah, we were pregnant and miscarried a baby whose due date was June 16, 2004. Praise the Lord! Not only had he convicted me and inspired me to give, He blessed me with absolute certainty that this was the child we were supposed to care for. She was hand picked for us by the God of the Universe. So now, instead of spending money AT Sephora, I get to spend money ON Sephora, my sweet Haitian girl.

I have added a new link to Compassion on my sidebar. For those of you who are unfamiliar, please go and visit them. It is a miracle to think that the amount I would spend on a jar of Pink Grapefruit Body Butter can feed, clothe and educate a child for a whole month. The best part of all is that Compassion will also introduce the children they reach to Jesus. By giving to Compassion, you are not only caring for a child here on this earth, but for eternity, as well. If you have $32 a month burning a hole in your pocket (and even if you don't) please go change the life of a child. I promise you won't regret it!

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world

2 comments:

Anonymous,  April 23, 2008 at 2:08 PM  

Her name is Sephora, and she lives in Haiti. Because of her name, I had to click on her picture to find out more. When I did, I began to cry. She was born on June 16, 2004. Before Mark and I ever had Elijah and Micah, we were pregnant and miscarried a baby whose due date was June 16, 2004.

This is an incredible story. Praise be to God indeed. I'm not sure if you know this, but Sephora is a variation of the name Shiphrah, the name of one of the two Hebrew midwives who refused to carryout Pharaoh's horrible orders in the days of Moses.

Anyway, I would be honored if you would add Jesus + Compassion to your blog roll. God bless you and all your children!

cd

Unknown April 23, 2008 at 8:31 PM  

What a blessing you received and a blessing you have shared by blogging about it! You must have gotten a little goosebumpy at the hug from God.
I just popped in because I was browsing other people who like music by 'Mercy Me' I guess I figure that those who like the same music as I do would have to be cool!...I was right!
It was nice to stop in, please feel free to link back to visit me too.

Post a Comment

  © Blogger template Simple n' Sweet by Ourblogtemplates.com 2009

Back to TOP