Stirring...

[Katie Ullmann]

So Jesus has been breaking my heart lately, like breaking it to the point of me sobbing. People generally tell me I’m emotional and mood swingy and I claim all of that as a part of me, but somehow this is different. On Monday night, ACCESS218 hosted a showing of the PASSION TWENTY TEN WEB LAUNCH LIVE. Because it was a live webcast from the Passion House in Georgia about every five seconds it was buffering and would pause. We missed a lot of the singing and a lot of what Louie said, but God moved in my heart. He was talking about how this is all over the world and it’s supposed to be a world movement and telling us of people plugged in from all over the world, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Australia, etc. and it all of a sudden hit me. There are people and not just people but Christians and college aged Christian leaders that won’t be able to attend the Passion Event. Not because of things like money and lodging or because the conference filled up, but because they are fighting for their lives. They are running from their governments. They are on fire for Jesus, but they don’t know if they are going to live through the night. There are people all over the world that love Jesus absolutely love Jesus that will never get to gather with thousands of believers. There are people all around the world that have been born in refugee camps and are now raising families in refugee camps and have never been even been outside the gates. Over the past year God has been teaching me that just because an American Protestant isn’t in a place does not mean he isn’t already there stirring up the people’s hearts.

I’ve been privileged enough to meet some of the most amazing kids from Burmese refugee camps that are on fire for Jesus. When they pray or sing you can feel the Spirit moving in the room. These kids are on fire for God and have been their whole lives. One girl in particular who is only 6 months younger than me voice turns me immediately to Jesus when she sings. I wonder if she knows how many Christians are in the world. And I wonder if how she views America’s Church. We say we love Jesus and are following him, but what are we really doing to influence and improve the things she’s seen. I have faces now attached to situations and I can feel and hear the cries coming from the Karen in the Thailand refugee camps. I no longer have the ability to do things and not think about them and if I am doing anything to help them. Last night God reminded me that even in the situations these people are facing He is still glorified and He still ultimately reigns. I now have to live in the struggle of knowing too much and not doing anything about it. I want to change everything they are going through, but truthfully don’t know what to do or how to get over there or what needs truthfully there are.

God’s breaking my heart and truthfully his timing is perfect. Next Thursday I leave with Jackie Tatje to go to a conference in Washington D.C. on the situations in Burma. I am very excited and truthfully a little scared at what God is going to be teaching me and showing me through the conference.

If you think about it please pray for Burma. Please pray for the political situations in Burma along with its leaders that are oppressing their people. They are actively participating in an ethnic cleansing and need prayer. And please pray for the refugees and their survival. Many of them are Christian, some are Muslim, and some are Buddhist. All are human though and all are precious in God’s eyes!