Make the Difference

Ok, so this is probably the most amazing video I've seen in a while! Watch the whole way through! AMAZING! Inspires me to not let anything stop me and to dream dream dream... ENJOY! :)



God bless!
~Lily Fluharty

From pain to Compassion

I posted this last year but I think this book has a powerful
message and I wanted to bring it back to the light!

Too Small to Ignore is a powerful book by Dr. Wess Stafford,
President and CEO of Compassion International. The book
tells about Dr. Staffords childhood in Africa as a young boy
in a missionary family. During his time overseas, Wess
was abused at a missionary school. He writes of his pain as
well as how Jesus filled Him with peace and forgiveness.
This little boy who was broken, beaten and abused went on
to found Compassion International and to provide hundreds
of kids with love and opportunities to know Jesus.
The big message of the book is why
the least of these matters most.

Jesus really loved children and He made a point in showing
this.

Matthew 18:5 says,
"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name
welcomes me."
Jesus repeatedly welcomed and blessed children.

However, children are not a priority in today's world.
Dr. Stafford writes,
"When hunger and famine strike a nation, adults become weak
and hungry,but it is the children who most often starve to
death. When disease arrives with all its fury, adults can become
very sick, but the first to die are usually children. When war
erupts over ethnicity or boundary lines in the dust, it is the
littlest victims who pay the most tragic price. Far more children
were injured or permanently maimed by our battles. The
tragedies go on for years after the last gunshot or grenade blast,
as land mines and booby-trapped toys keep wounding, terrorizing,
and killing our innocent ones. The ritual sacrifice of children has
been taboo for thousands of years. Yet tragically it is practiced
every day across our world. We sacrifice children on our altars of
our most destructive sins. when the sickness of pornography has
run to its most evil and destructive end, it takes the form of child
pornography. When prostitution reaches its sickest, most depraved
form, it becomes child prostitution."

Here are a few devestating statistics...

*55 percent of childrens deaths in the world is responsible from
malnutrition.

*The earth can produce enough food for every man, woman, and child
to have 2,720 calories per day-more than any of us need.

*On September 11, the same day the twin towers fell, thirty thousand
children under the age of five from hunger and AIDS.

*The World Health Organization reported taht 745,000 children died
in 2001 from the measles.

The total cost of vaccinating them would have been only $558,750. We
spend five times that much on chewing gum each and every year.

It's all a matter of priorities.
Speaking of priorities, isn't it interesting how a schoolteacher earns
between $25,000 and $30,000 a year while a professional baseball
pitcher earns that much for every out he throws?

So how can we help? It is not always possible to go and rescue fifty
children and take them into our homes, and clothe and feed them.
However, sponsoring a child can help one child at a time.
By telling them them that they are loved and cared about, by nurturing
their dreams and encouraging them to be the best they can be, we
can help children overcome poverty and discouragement.
Proverbs 31:8 says,
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of
all who are destitute."

Click here to go to Compassion and find out more about sponsoring
a child!
God bless you!
~Lily

When I grow up...

It's really late and I can't sleep but I can still dream can't I?
One of my favorite things to ask kids is what they want
to be when they "grow up". I love the responses.
"I want to be a teacher... or a princess"
"A Fio-Fito"
"I wanna be a ballerina"
"Im gonna be an artist"


I love encouraging them and helping them dream. Why
shouldn't kids dream about their future careers and
why shouldn't we encourage them? I find it sad when
people tell their kids they can't be or do something. Let
them dream because eventually they will wake up and
realize they can't be a princess in real life but they can
achieve some of their other dreams.

It is such a blessing to see a smile on a little girl's face when
you tell her she would be a beautiful princess and that she
would make a great teacher. Try it... it is amazing.

So what are your dreams?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Me? Well, I want 100 children. :)

~Lily

2,500,000

In Kenya, there are 2,500,000 orphaned children.

This just blows me away! 2,500,000 children with no parents.
Where are they living? Who is providing for them? Yet God
sees each of these precious children and He knows each by name.
Isn't that amazing? God loves each and every one of them. He
has a plan for them and their lives will ultimately bring Him glory.
God bless!
~Lily

Beautiful

In 2008 I traveled to Jamaica to a Children's home called Robin's Nest.
I had an amazing time and the kids were awesome and a blast to be
around. While I was there, I met a 5 year old girl named Shantara.
Shantara had CP and couldn't talk or move her own body. The only
way she could communicate was through her eyes and she had
beautiful eyes. A couple months after I returned home I found out
that Shantara had passed away from complications from the flu. This
beautiful little girl is now running and playing and singing with Jesus.
One of my favorite memories is singing to Shantara about how we
are happy all the day because of Jesus. She started crying while me and
my mom loved on her and that moment is ingrained in my mind. That
a little girl would cry about being happy in Jesus just blew my mind.
Shantara is the most beautiful girl I have ever met, inside and out.
God bless!
~Lily