Monday, November 19, 2012

Compassion - The Story of 4 Elizabeth's



On October 7th, our church participated in a National Event called Compassion Sunday. It's been a couple of years since Compassion has been contacting me to get involved in this yearly event. I knew this was the time to step in and become involved. :)  This blog post is what I had shared that Sunday with my church, Cornerstone Church, in Saskatoon.

The Bible clearly states how much Jesus loves children. Each one is so precious and unique and has a story to tell. Millions of kids have a sad story filled with heartache, fear, hunger and poverty - they don't go to school and they don't know about God.

The good news is that each of us can be used by God to intervene in the lives of these kids. Today, I want to challenge each one of us to consider "changing the story" for a child in need. Here's how we can do this:  Please watch this story of two Elizabeth's:




Our own family has sponsored children for a number of years. We love these kids and often pray for them and write them.

A few weeks ago Mark Honorat from Haiti Arise had shared at Cornerstone of how he was a sponsor child through a church and then his sponsor went to meet him in person and sponsored him to go through Bible School and University...and today he is the founder and president of Haiti Arise!  WOW!  A sponsor from Canada had "changed his story."



Over the past couple of years, God has been planting seeds in my life and leaving many hints that He was leading me in new directions. :)  This past August, He opened a huge door and gave me the opportunity to go to El Salvador together with Compassion.
 I wasn't going to sponsor another child but God changed my heart while I was there and He gave me another child to sponsor.

On our last day there, I was able to meet the child God chose for me to sponsor and her name is Marcella Elizabeth and they call her Elisa everyday. Well, my real name is Elizabeth and I am called Lisa everyday. I love the story of the two Elizabeth's on the video you just saw earlier in this post. Now 2 more Elizabeth's are added to this story. :)  Marcella Elizabeth was a child chosen for me by God alone and we spent a very precious day together in El Salvador. Her mother Hilda got to spend the day with us as well and how precious it was to see the love she has for her daughter. My life was about to become doubly blessed by adding Marcella and her family to my own through this Compassion sponsorship and through prayer.

Seeing firsthand the great work that Compassion does was incredible and their ministry is so Christ-centered...they will always partner with a local church in each community they go into. At least 80-85% of the monthly sponsor fee goes directly to my child. That's important to me! I met many sponsored kids as well as college students who had grown up as sponsor kids and were now in the Leadership Development Program. These students will be future leaders in their country and they have a desire to make a difference and to be the change in the poverty cycle.  I also met those who are now working for Compassion because of the impact that sponsorship made on their own life and they now have a desire to be a leader and a servant in their own country to help other children. I was amazed at their work! How could I not want to share about this dynamic sponsorship ministry with others around me!?


My time here in El Salvador will never leave my memory...it is a trip that has changed me forever!  Just look at these incredibly precious faces!!  They now have hope!!

Compassion has been around for 60 years and has received the highest ratings for financial accountability in charitable organizations and they really do change lives!!  If you feel led to sponsor a child and to be the change in a precious life today, to give the greatest gift you can give to one of these sweet children and be a sponsor, please connect with me and check out the many children who need sponsoring on my page on the Compassion website
 www.compassion.ca/advocate/lisabraun

If you'd like to read more of the journey with Compassion in El Salvador, please go the Women's Journey of Faith Compassion blog  www.wjofcompassion.blogspot.ca              God bless you dear ones!!

Remember........Jesus IS the Difference!!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Women's Journey of Faith is GOING TO ISRAEL

ISRAEL 2013 HERE WE COME!!!  WHOOHOO!!

I am so excited to announce the upcoming 2013 Journey to Israel with Women's Journey of Faith.  I've had the incredible honor and privilege to walk through the Holy Land together with Israeli Tour Guide, Arie Harel in 2008, 2009 and 2011....and I can't WAIT to go back!!!  :)  Lord willing, he and I, along with other team members of Women's Journey of Faith, will be journeying together through the Holy Land once again March 7-17, 2013.  :)


The following promo video has footage taken from my last tour to Israel in 2011, as well as the pics below.



Have you ever yearned to walk where Jesus walked? 

To read the Sermon on the Mount on the hillside of the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee?

To be on a boat on the Sea of Galilee imagining Jesus walking or the disciples fishing on those very waters? 

To walk through the Nazareth that Jesus knew and see how life really was during the time that he walked on this earth? 

To dip your feet or to be baptized in the Jordan River? 

To take a float on the Dead Sea? 

To overlook the barren desert land from the heights of Masada? 

To stand in the oasis that David had fled to while hiding from King Saul? 

To drive up the road to the marvelous city of Jerusalem and to stand on the Mount of Olives where Jesus sat on a donkey with Palm Branches laid before him and wept over his people while overlooking the city of Jerusalem? 

To walk in the Garden of Gethsemane among the thousand year old olive trees? 

To walk through the old streets of Jerusalem and see its ancient walls? 

To stand in the empty tomb which says HE IS NOT HERE, HE IS RISEN? 

To sit on the hillside of Shepherd's Field in Bethlehem imagining the angel host in the skies above giving the shepherds the great news that Jesus Christ the Messiah has been born? 

To walk through the tunnels of King Hezekiah's time in the Old City of David? 

Oh my dear sisters, if your heart yearns to visit these incredible places that we read about in our Bibles, come along with us....send in your deposit today....and mark your calendars to journey together with us!!  You will never be the same...this tour will change your life....transforming your mind/heart/walk with Jesus!!
Visit www.wjof.com/israeltour to register with us to confirm your spot on this tour.....sign up today! :) If you'd like to journey through the Holy Land of Israel together with Israeli Tour Guide Arie Harel and I, your life will forever be changed. Your relationship with Jesus will go beyond what you've ever imagined after you've walked where He's walked!



If you'd like to journey through a tour similar to the one we'll be going on in March 7-17, 2013, continue scrolling down through this blog and you will walk through and see photos of each day of a magnificent women's tour in the Holy Land from November 19-December 3/2011.  Here is the link to follow us on the Women's Journey of Faith Israel blog http://wjofisraeltour.blogspot.ca/  

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Experience Israel

This fellow on www.youtube.com did an incredible job putting together a video of their tour in Israel. Next time I go back to Israel, I`m definitely going to video and take photos with putting together a video like this in mind. :)  Daniel Carmel is definitely my favorite Israel worship leader - he is a Messianic Jew and share his testimony and worship music on his boat called `FAITH`on the Sea of Galilee.  Hope you enjoy the video. :)



One of my own videos from the Sea of Galilee is posted on an earlier post...it`s nothing like the one above but it will give you a taste of what it was like for us. :)




Tuesday, February 07, 2012

The "180" Movie from YouTube

Definitely a video that needs to be circulated continually. Please take the 33 minutes to view it and let it affect your life, possibly change your thinking about the Holocaust, Abortion, Jews and Jesus Christ.  It has disturbing images from the Holocaust and Abortion so it is unfit for small children to view.

www.Heartchanger.com