If you do not have a child with RAD you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. My child is labeled with developmental delays. The world believes she will always struggle and considers her to be slow.
I know different. I refuse to believe what the world says. God brought her to me. He entrusted her to me. I am her parent. I am her mother. I know my child better than anyone else on this earth. She is smart. God has big plans for her.

God created each of us. Imagine if when He created us that He only chose to partly mold us. What if He saw no potential in us? What if God labeled us? The thing is God didn’t just throw something together when He made us. To him we are a masterpiece. He saw our full potential the moment He created us. So what does all this mean?
I choose to believe that my little girl is smarter than the world believes. I choose to believe that God has plans for her that I can’t even imagine. I choose to push her and see her full potential. God chose to believe in me and see my potential even at times when I couldn’t see it myself.

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions,in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Stephanie Proctor
March 7, 2013

Imagine being in your mothers’ womb. For nine months you hear her voice, then the moment comes where you are born and instead of being held and talked to by that familiar voice you know, you are given to someone else. Then for the first four years of your life you are in a home where you are severely abused and neglected. Then you are removed from that home and placed in foster care for eight months. Finally, you reach your destination into your adoptive family.

There are days when I just cry out to God because I don’t know what else to do. Living with someone who has RAD is like living with a bomb in your house and you have no idea when that bomb will go off.

What I do know is this: God loves this beautiful little girl and she was made in the image of Him. We all have times in our life when we try and push God away, whether trying to do things our way, or not trusting Him. The thing is just like my little girl we may not do this intentionally. More than anything she wants us to love her, she wants to belong, and she wants us to not give up on her.

I do know this, whether I deserve it or not God loves me. Not only does He love me, but he loves me unconditionally, meaning no matter what I do He still loves me. He will never leave me or forsake me. How could we give up on our little girl when God never gives up on us.

Though we have a long, hard road ahead of us we feel called to be her mommy and daddy. There will come a day when she will fully trust that we will not abandon her. I believe that with all of my heart. For now we will continue to trust and believe that God knows the plans for our family. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Faithfully Seeking Him,

Stephanie Proctor
January 9, 2013

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KB Thomas lives in Pineville, LA, where she serves as the Student Activities Director at Louisiana College.  She sometimes cannot believe that she gets paid to live and work on a college campus.  She is passionate about pouring into students during the most pivotal years of their lives.   In her free time, KB can be found using her creative juices on Do It Yourself projects around her house.  She is the owner of a spoiled rotten dog named Matti and has been blessed to travel the world.  You can learn more about how she is restoring hope to orphans and widows here:  http://www.kbthomas.blogspot.com.

December of 2001 the Lord radically captured by my heart through the innocence of a child that I met while on a mission trip in Rome, Italy. This trip came just in the aftermath of the tragedy we know as 9-11. As you can imagine people weren’t too apt to travel internationally, but we already had our team in place to work with refugees in Rome. It was on that trip that I met a couple from Sudan who were living in a park in Rome where we played volleyball every day. This couple had left their country in pursuit of a better life for their little girl, Roa, who was about 6 months old at the time. The situation of this family devastated me, but their courage was absolutely inspiring. Every day I would find them and play with Roa, this was the absolute highlight of my trip. On our last day the father approached me and handed Roa to me saying, “Take her, she will have a better life in America.” My heart ripped into a million pieces that day. I knew that legally this was not even possible but the thought that they would give her up to insure a better life for her was something I have never gotten over. In 2001 in Rome, Italy the Lord placed an Africa shaped hole in my heart. I had never been to Africa but something in me had an overwhelming love for the people and a desire to help parents, like Roa’s, to provide a better life for their children.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2010 that my dream of going to Africa was fulfilled. After 10 years in the making it is an experience I will never forget. I spent two weeks in Uganda loving on orphaned children. We played with children who were motherless and/or fatherless to no fault of their own. Whether it be disease, malnutrition or living in a war torn country, these children were being forced to fend for themselves in a place where even adults struggled to live. How do you get over seeing something like this? The real answer is that you don’t. An experience like this changes everything. It changes the way you look at your own needs versus your wants. It plants a seed in your soul that teaches you, maybe for the first time, what it means to deny yourself and live sacrificially for the sake of others. I know for me scripture came alive through this trip. When James says that undefiled religion is this, to look after orphans and widows, I finally had a name and a face to put with that passage. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to this particular scripture when orphans are nameless and faceless. Everything changes when you’ve held a hungry, dirty, naked but incredibly precious child in your arms named Benjamin, Dorothy, Ivan, Nissi, Silvia, Joshua and Brian. These orphans now have a name, a face, a story and a need that I am instructed to help meet.

To say that my life has been impacted by an encounter with orphans and widows is an understatement. And here is the truth of the matter, we may not all be called to go to Africa. You may never step on a plane and put your feet in the dirt in the most remotes part of Uganda, but we can all make a difference in the lives of orphans and widows by giving and by helping to tell their story. Give them a voice by advocating for them in whatever way the Lord leads you. God bless!

What does this have to do with 127 Worldwide, you ask?  A powerful way to RESTORE HOPE in the lives of African children is to show them  the people who are defying odds and pursuing their HUGE dreams.  Sports is a great way to communicate these powerful stories and unite people.  How can these stories promote the work that God is doing in Uganda to take care of orphans and widows?

I am looking for 127 families, individuals, or churches who would join the 127 Worldwide Team and support us on a monthly basis. Currently, I am about 30% of the way to this goal.  I am asking you to pray about filling one of these 127 slots.  Now, some people automatically think, “We can’t spare $100 a month, so we won’t even bother.”  I am asking you…..what CAN you spare?  If you and I went to Starbucks and I forgot my wallet, I dare say anyone reading this message would buy me a cup of coffee.  Granted, if I pulled this little stunt every month, you might eventually catch on.

So, pray about it…..maybe it is a dollar a week, a dollar a day, five dollars a day, ten dollars a day, one hundred dollars a day.  :)  The thing is, the amount is between you and God……I really have NOTHING to do with it.  There is so much freedom in that!  I have 2 requests.  1.  Please click on the link below to use our secure partner to set up your monthly donation.  2.  If at all possible, can you set up your checking account instead of a debit or credit card?  This is a strong preference, but it is alright if you are unable to do this.  The minimum donation is $5.  God is stretching me through this process, and I am excited to see what He is going to do!

JOIN THE 127 TEAM!!

It’s nearly impossible to find accurate statistics about widows. Widows are often forgotten.

Orphans. Widows. Their plight is not their choice.

The mission of 127 Worldwide, Inc. is to connect people to the needs of orphans and widows around the globe through education, advocacy, and sponsorship.

James 1:27 NRSV
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.