compassion international

so there i was singing at a methodist church in the woodlands last sunday. for those of you that don't know, i have the awesome opportunity of partnering with an incredibly life and world changing ministry called compassion international (releasing children from poverty in Jesus name) check out www.compassion.com for more details.

i had two minutes to share about compassion in all three morning services. in the first two services, i seemed to stumble over my words. i didn't really know exactly what to say in two minutes that would make them want to come back for the 2pm concert to learn more about compassion. i tried to tell my story but it seemed so rushed because i only had two minutes. so finally in the third service, during some silent prayer time, i finally went before the Lord and started surrendering everything. i confessed that i'd been trying to do it in my own strength... again... and i prayed and prayed that God would speak through me and bring the exact group of people that he wanted at the 2pm concert. i surrendered each of the 20 children whose packets i had brought, to Him, almost as if to imagine laying them at the foot of the cross. as i began praying for the children and reading over verses about the poor, i could see some of the faces of the children. i immediately began weeping (and i'm not a cry-er). then i started balling. and this was literally minutes before i was supposed to give the 2 minute compassion presentation. i couldn't stop crying, but i was able to stop enough to go to the front and talk about compassion. i shared from the depth of my heart about Jesus' passion for the children and how it was a possibility to end poverty. i started crying again. it was embarrassing, but in that vulnerability, it made me real to the congregation. we connected. i could feel it. then i couldn't even finish what i was saying because i started crying again so i smiled and sat down. and the tears kept coming.

sidenote: during the sermon i was looking through an old journal that i had taken with me to the Dominican Republic compassion trip in october. i found a set of lyrics i had written about the children who had so deeply touched my heart. i have been praying that God would give me a song for the children and these lyrics jumped off the page and right back into my heart where they came from initially! so i tore the page out and decided that it had to be a song. but i didn't have a melody, just lyrics. so i waited to see what God would do. more on that in a moment...

after that service, i was confident that whoever came to the concert would be the exact people who God wanted there.

right before the 2pm concert, at 1:55 i sat down at the piano (because i just couldn't wait any longer and i could literally feel this song rising up in me) with the lyrics that i had found earlier in my hand. i started playing and a full song, in its entirety started to pour out of my heart. people start showing up but i had to keep singing. in fact, i couldn't stop. for whatever reason, that sunday at exactly 1:55pm right before my concert, the Lord decided to give me the song i'd been waiting and praying for. the theme song of my heart for the children. a song for Compassion and for my own personal love for the kiddos. the song was born and i didn't even have to try. i didn't even have to work on it. the lyrics fit perfectly with whatever i started playing on the piano and whatever melody i started singing. i knew i had just been given the song that i'd so been desiring for so long, so i told the sound guy to start recording. he did. and i sang the song, for the first time as a full song, straight from God. and he recorded it! i'm going to tell you how you can hear the song in just a second.

then the concert starts and i'm on fire because i just wrote this song i'm so pumped about! and i'm about 30 minutes into the concert when i begin the official compassion presentation. i started sharing my heart with the audience. there only ended up being about 38 people there, which was less than we hoped there would be but i knew they were supposed to be there. everyone was locked in and listening. my words just start flowing and i'm telling the stories and i felt myself literally being a voice for the voiceless. a champion for the children. then (though i hadn't initially planned to) i realized that i wanted to sing the song i had just written. so i tell the audience the story of how i wrote the song literally 5 minutes before the concert started. i sat down at the piano, played the slide show of pictures and verses that i had created, and i started singing. i had volunteers ready to pass out packets and by the end of the song and slide show, all 20 packets had been passed out.

there was not a dry eye in the place, including mine. i could barely get through the song because i could see the slide show from where i was singing!

at the end of the concert i went straight back to the table. all 20 children were being sponsored by loving and excited people! people were finally getting it. they were realizing that the way to truly end poverty is to change the life of one child. one child changes a family, a family a church, a church a region, a region a country and so on and so forth. lives were being changed right there on the spot. out of the seemingly small number of people, all 20 children found mentors and friends for life! wow wow and wow. it was truly amazing how God moved. i had prayed for all 20 to get sponsored and He did exactly that, in His sovereignty and kindness.

just had to share God's glory story with you, the blog world!

on another note: i just found out that a producer in san antonio is giving me a half day of free recording. he's been asking me for months to pick a song and i couldn't think of one. then last sunday i knew, that i'm supposed to record this song. and hopefully it can go throughout the world on behalf of the children! it's called "Least of These" and i hope it blesses you as much as it has been blessing me. keep in mind, it's a very raw recording because we recorded it as i was writing it! so some more work needs to be done, but you'll get the gist of it :)

to hear the song, the only way i've figured out to send you to it is through my myspace page (because i have no idea how to insert an audio file into my blog)

so go to http://www.myspace.com/lindseykane2 and look for the song titled "Least of These". let me know your thoughts and responses. and please, if this touches you in any way, YOU TOO can sponsor and change the life of a child! just check out www.compassion.com and you'll find tons of sweet kiddos that need your help and love!