Our role always changes...

This blog is really talking about how one person can be so many things. I will use my dad, Mark Blum,as an example. He is my Father, but before he was my father, he was (And still is) a husband. This is a role he has had for 25 years now! He loves being a husband but before that, he was and still is a son. He also is a brother. To some he has been a youth pastor, and to some he has been a close friend. To some he has been an employee, and to my cousins, he has been an uncle. These are all the general roles of Mark Blum.

On this trip to Jamaica, I found myself in many roles for the purpose of serving God and his kingdom. I helped with media and took photos. But yet I also am a wife and support to Alex. I am a new daughter to Mark and Laurie but yet I am a friend to those I have met on the trip. So how do we know what to do? Who to be? Well I figure we need to be listening to the Holy spirit and see what role he has for us that day- because he has SO MUCH MORE for us to do than we can comprehend. For example, During one particular morning I was in my "photographer role". I was taking photos, and trying to capture the VBS going on in Norwood. There were kids left and right coming up to me. Hugging me, talking to me, but mostly, I stayed focused on my task. To which one girl (with a backwards hat) kept hitting and blocking my camera so I could not get the shots I wanted or needed. This was Annoying.

I tried to pay her no attention as to not feed into her antagonistic personality- but something inside me said just to sit with her. She obviously needs something. So I sat. We sat without talking for a very long time. Until she finally blurted out, "Do you have a mom?" "Yes." I replied. "Where is she?" "At home." "oh......" she answered. I watched her brain going and going as she slowly just laid her head onto my arm where we stayed the rest of the service. As we got up to go she looked at me with tears and said "I do not have a mom." Then she walked away. This hit me hard. Because for that hour, we just sat there. To me, I felt as though I wasn't fulfilling my role as a photographer- and was pretty distracted as to why I was sitting with her- but to her (Daysha), I was the only female shoulder she had rested on in a long time. That hour to her comforted her in some way- and Had I ignored her- and not realized the role of a mother I needed to play that day- I might have missed out on loving a child who needed it most. I had the privelidge of being with her the next 2 days. We had a wonderful time. (Pictured is Daysha, Me and Anisha)

The very same day, we went to a place called "Hope Hospice." This place is a very special home for Sick, elderly and Aids Patients". This home will remind you how much you have to be truly thankful for after spending only a few minutes inside. It was there that I met Miss Beverly. Miss Beverly has not been in "Hope Hospice" too long. She is fairly new, so there is not too much that I know about her.

On this particular day however, I entered Miss Beverly's room talking, sharing some "sweeties" with her and then she cried. She spoke on horrible her day was because her daughters had called. But they called and they were crying because they are too young to find their way up the hill to this facility that their mom is "checked into".
"How far away do they live? " I asked. Only to find out they live only a short 15 minutes away. Will they ever be able to see their mom? Probably not until they get older. This is because they live with their father who will not allow them to see their "sick" mother anymore. She held my hand- and I told her when I miss my mom (Who was far away) I just pray for her. "Then can we pray together- and today I will be your mother, and you can be my daughter. Just for today?" She asked. This startled me- not because it was hard to understand, but because it was SO SIMPLE. God's love is so simple. It is US who complicate things.

So for that afternoon- I sat with Beverly as we prayed. We talked- and I was her daughter for that day- and that was just fine with me :) A daughter to one person, and a mother to another. A wife to my husband- and a daughter to my parents. These are very simple roles- ones we need to be ready to be when God needs us to give love to lost and hurting.

SO I challenge you... what roles do you play? What has God created you to be not only naturally? But Spiritually? I am not a mother yet- but on several occasions this trip I have been called to be someone's "mother" for a day. Be the person God created you to be- but be ready to shape into different roles. Be flexible. Be ready- and be willing to be all he needs and more!

When I met Anna

Walking into what seemed as overcrowed room with children all over the place,
All you can do is smell the stench of dirty diapers and hear the sound of crying all over the place.
These cries are unforgettable because they are the cries of the rejected, the lost and the hurting.
Children can be found in their cribs, in the classroom, or on the patio.
How does one choose where to go and who to hold?
Picking them up one by one as I made my way toward the room where they all play, you can see their personalities shining through already. You can see the pain, the abuse and the brokenness in their eyes, in their tears and in their clutch; Their arms reaching up, too many to carry at once.
Then I hear a painful cry, coming from the corner, underneath a pile of bitter five year olds, hitting, punching and pulling the hair of the blonde hair, mixed Jamaican orphan.

It was then that I met Anna.

Her arms are thinner than that of a newborn. Her hair is frayed and torn from many hands attempts to pull it out.
Her legs are purple and bruised from the past I still do not know about.
She smiled at me as I wiped the tears from her cheeks, only to reveal her one broken tooth.
Anna is small, she might be four but looks two years younger than that. Her small body laid upon my shoulder and my hand could feel her spine curl, and I could feel her ribs from underneath her clothing.
As I walked the hall with her head on my shoulder, I felt her heart beat slow down; she finally felt safe. Then all of the sudden, she sat straight up, began to giggle, and pointed. I looked over to see she was pointing to Alex. Her arms were out to be held by him.

“Alex,” I Said, “Meet Anna”

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Anna, and the rest of the children in their orphanage in Jamaica. The day did not end as you would imagine in a storybook. I could not take Anna home, I could not give her a mom or dad- but I did hold her, sing with her and prayed for God to fulfill his will in her life. This life is not always about fixing everything, but being the hands and feet of the one who holds, heals and fixes all things. I think about Anna a lot. She is just one of thousands here in Jamaica without a home, without a loving family to call her own and without hope for a better day tomorrow. But now, she will never be forgotten, she will never be alone and she is never without a prayer for her future, her healing and her strength. Although she only has one tooth, I pray, someday, heaven will be a glorious place to see her beautiful smile-

When I meet Anna once again.