What Does A Child Need To Survive?

This is the Truth Network. What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? What does a child need to survive today? 878-84-866-348-7884, we are so grateful to have our partners, Kross International, with us, and the campaign that we're running here on The Truth Network, to try to provide that for children in these countries, you know, like Malawi and all...and I've got Kelly Miller here to explain all that. So I thought I had it right in front of me in all those countries, but I didn't.

but I didn't. Those places, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, well, gosh, I'll tell you, I love to hear him from Jamal. I think he's somebody I'd love to sit down and just chat with for a long time and listen to that guy because, you know, what he touched on was so spot on. And if I could just start with the word flourish that he articulated. And it's interesting because at Cross, we have a theme every year and our theme this year is flourish.

So it was great to hear that, but you know, that word is both a verb and an adjective, right, a descriptor and an action word. And this is all part of how God is using Cross International and organizations like ours around the globe, but particularly where we work in African and Latin American countries. And if I could tell you, did I have a minute to tell you a story?

Please, please, too. I love this very, very real. You know, again, love the name of your show, a true thought, this is such a true story of flourishing. So four plus years ago, I'm in Uganda in Northeastern Africa, where we've got quite a number of program sites where we work. And one of them is in Kampala, the capital city, where we work in partnership there with a local organization and working with very, very young girls who are incredibly impoverished, their families are, they live in the barrios of the city and very, very difficult, very, very meager existence there. And they go to the public schools, which are challenging in and of themselves. And oftentimes, culturally, they're not in all places, but oftentimes, you've heard about, you know, child bride, young teenage brides, right? This is a very typical path for young Ugandan girls, especially those who are in poverty, you know, being married at age 12, 13, 14, and having children shortly after that. And we work with these girls, we have a methodology, a way to identify some of the most at-risk girls in these school systems and partner up with them in a mentoring program. And these are all women, Christian women, who have had some measure of success in life, you know, relatively speaking, that walk alongside these young girls and talk about that, one, there is this God, and two, that you're a creation of God, and three, that you have an opportunity to flourish in life. And yeah, marriage and children are wonderful blessings and great steps in life, but they do have a season in life, and it's generally not when you're 12 and 13 and 14 years old.

And so there is this encouragement to continue in school, to finish school, and mentorship in terms of this idea of university. And many of these girls that are going to university and trade schools and such, I mean, a path of the doors that come open for these young ladies are incredible for them to understand that God has this life of flourishing ahead for them. And rolled the clock forward four years last November, I was back in Uganda, and had a chance to meet with some of the girls that we met with four years prior. And this one gal in particular, she then was 16 and now is 20. And four years ago, man, I'm telling you, I won't go into all the details, but she was living a very, very hard life. Mom and a sister in an incredibly challenging home life, hardly any money, hardly any income and such, but Cross and our local partner, Project Princess Initiative, and these loving, lovely women who walk the journey with these young ladies.

Roll the clock forward to today. She has finished high school. She's now in school to be a midwife, which is a very, very, very needed skill in Uganda.

And will be another year before she graduates and then has almost 100% job placement on top of it. I mean, it's so cool. And just the love of Jesus exudes through her to the point where now she is going back to our program and mentoring other young girls and sharing the love of Jesus there. I mean, it's an incredible story and that's just one of many thousands of stories. That's completely the way that fruit works, right?

Fruit has the seeds in it to multiply. It's like, that's the blessing. So interestingly, we have Eric is in Sydney, Ohio and Eric has a story that church came along and helped him. Eric, tell us your story.

Hey there. Yeah, it was, we definitely, we're what you'd call a poor family. We were pretty used to going without and I got talked to by this youth pastor and he kind of found out we were a family in need and it was close to Thanksgiving time and they brought groceries over to our house and it was a very, very moving experience.

We were just, we were broke. We were out and we got involved, me and my brother got involved in the youth program and it's kind of funny how it started. It was like, hey, you know, they're gonna have pizza there for you guys and we started going for the pizza and next thing you know, we got saved and Christ has completely changed my life and he's been providing for me ever since. I just wanna share that.

I think that's so cool. I mean, yeah, they met the needs for food but again, once you're getting fed, you might as well get fed spiritually and now my guess is, I'm just guessing, Eric, that you've had a chance to bless some other folks in a similar way. Yeah, yeah, yeah I have and it's just been an amazing journey and Christ, he's been right there with me every step. That is so awesome, Eric, that is so awesome and I just wanna make sure everybody knows out there the Truth Network are listening right now that just like Eric's talking about what Kelly's talking about, we got a chance, every one of us, what a neat opportunity to take part in what God is doing because really, if you go to that website there at truthnetwork.com, you're gonna see the banner for Cross International for just $62, right? It provides, it's for $62. You provide a child with life-saving resources like the food that Eric's talking about, water and Bibles and here's the countries, I got it now, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda and other countries there that Cross International is working with. Again, maybe you got $620 or whatever the Lord blesses or puts on your heart based on what you're hearing but the cool thing is, right, you plant the seed, $62 and then just like Kelly was talking about, you know?

These girls getting out of this situation, going to university and more importantly, from my standpoint, you know, the fruit of Jesus in their lives, it's all there. There is also a phone number to call if you just wanna call Cross International. It's 888-222-9566.

It's 888-222-9566. Of course, you can go to truthnetwork.com, click on that banner, we got so much more coming up. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Okay, welcome back to Truth Talk Live. Today's question and we need you to call in and share like so many have.

I'm so grateful for their input. What does a child need to survive? 866-348-7884, 866-34-truth, maybe you heard those stories during World War II where all these children in the blitzkrieg that happened in London were without food for long periods of time and that they couldn't get the kids to go to sleep in the orphanages. They had orphanages and orphanages and orphanages for kids that were left, their parents being killed in the bombing and the kids were starving and so what they discovered, and I've never forgotten this, I bet you won't either, is that if they would put the children to bed with a piece of bread in their hand, that the kids would go off to sleep knowing that they had a meal in the morning, right? And you know, for me, I like to tuck a little scripture in my brain at night so that I know when I get up in the morning, I have a meal in the morning. It's one of my favorite things to do. I just think that kids need stuff like that, we do too. So what are your thoughts?

866-348-7884 is the number to call in and share. What does a child need to survive? I love your input but we also, we're so blessed to have Kelly Miller with us with Cross International and what they're doing, right, to help these truly vulnerable kids in really tough places, you know, like we talked about, like in Zambia and Uganda and Malawi and so Kelly, I wanted to get back to your thoughts on what Eric said, what we're talking about. Sure, again, as much as I love Jamal, I love Eric's story too. I mean, it is so true when people are hurting, right, and they're physically, spiritually, emotionally empty but physically hungry, they're sick, when people step in, when Christian believers step in especially and live the gospel, not just speak it but live the gospel into people's lives, you know, as Eric said, look, you know, we went for pizza first and then we went and gave our lives to Christ and that's how, you know, that truth and that love is expressed for hearts and minds to open to the love of God. Why are you here? Why are you doing this? Well, there's a reason. There's a God that loves me and loves you, right, and you're able to tell that story and that happens time and time again, you know, not only here in our culture here in the U.S. and Western communities but in developing countries also and the needs are so great, you know, if I can just digress to another story if you don't mind.

Please, I love them, that's my favorite. At the top of the plane, we'll fly to Zambia in the southern portion of Africa and in the rural village area in the eastern portion of the country where a lot of our work happens there to affect the child and we say there's three things. We know if we can affect the family life of that child and family has got quotes around it because that may not mean, you know, traditional mom and dad, right? It may mean a mom or a dad, it may mean an aunt or a grandparent who's caring for the child because mom and dad have died or it may be an orphanage. You know, that's the family for a child or other settings.

So when we say that, you know, understand when we can affect that family situation positively, when we can affect the community, you know, that's broader than that family situation, positively and when we can affect the faith life positively, those three things, you know, that's what we aim, we aim to affect those three things and when we can, that again provides that opportunity for that child to know Jesus and have an opportunity to thrive in life. So with that being said, in Eastern Zambia, we work initially with what we call women's self-help groups. So these are young moms, again, out in the rural village areas that oftentimes more than not are second class citizens within their family, their community. Generally impoverished communities.

They've got children who they love desperately like we do and want desperately like we do for their kids, yet either can't or have a hard time providing. So we walk alongside these women and we work in groups of 20 to 25 and help mentor and coach them into developing small, small, small businesses, making soap, you know, sewing clothes for the communities, selling seeds amongst the community. Just again, small things, but highly needed and appropriate for those economies, right? So I'm in Zambia and I'm meeting with one of these self-help groups with these women. We're out in the village, we're literally sitting on the ground out in the middle of the village talking in a big circle and of course I don't speak the local language and they don't speak English so we've got the interpreter, but it was so much fun hearing their stories. And so this group had been in existence for about six months.

So they were still in training and kind of figuring out how to run these small tiny businesses and already we're getting going. And I said, okay, hey, I wanna do something kind of off the cuff here. So let's all stand up and say, okay, so for those of you, you know, six months ago before we started, how many of you, you only had maybe one meal a day in your household? And each of these women represented probably three to five children, three, four or five children on average. I want all of you to go stand over there, right? And I pointed off to the side and the vast majority of the women stood over there. And so, okay, so how many of you again, six months ago had two meals a day?

I want you to stand there. So point a different area and there were, I don't know, four or five that stood there. And so, okay, how many of you had three meals a day? And I think there were two, maybe three that stood in that group. I said, okay, this was six months ago.

I said, now here we are today, move to where you are. How many of you are in one meal? How many of you have two meals a day? How many of you have three meals a day? And now the vast majority were in two meals a day. And there were two or three that had made their way up to three meals a day.

There were still a few in the one meals a day, right? But this was the power of stepping in to people's lives, sharing the gospel in tangible and real ways. And along the way in the training programs, it's what does God's word have to say?

And X, Y, and Z, whatever the topic was for the day. So integrating God's reality and truth into their lives. And so how does that impact kids? Well, those are children now that are moving from maybe one meal a day to now two meals a day. And some of them are now three meals a day. And they'll get to that three meal day. And that means those children, when they go to school, they're gonna be able to learn better.

They're gonna be able to ward off disease better. They're gonna have a sense of hope in life more so. And they're gonna understand that there's a God again that created them, that loves them. And that's because of that God that this is happening. And so, you know, again, that story replicates itself time and time and time again.

Yeah, I was just gonna say that the idea of flourish, right? That as the parents flourish, right, and they begin to understand the scripture, you know, the kids feel safer at home, right? And they feel provided for and they feel loved and all those things.

I think one of the things that I just did not understand as a young man was that, man, I had to put on the oxygen mask first when the airplane begins to crash. And if I'm not taking care of myself physically, spiritually, emotionally, and all those things, then that stresses the whole family. It really does, it's so true. You know, one of my personal passions in the, and I could truly consider it an honor to be a part of this type of ministry work, is to help paint a picture for those of us who live in the US or the West, you know, and so many folks have a heart and an interest to do something for those people, right? And what I love to do is to paint a picture to bring reality of who those people are, right? And that, you know, these women, their families, these communities are very, very real, just like you and I are existing today here in the US. These are families that love and care for their kids, just like you and I do. They want hope and opportunity in life, just like you and I do. And so for folks here that are listening to have that interest to say, well, what can I do with those people?

There's a ton you can do. First, pray, pray for them. Power of prayer is very real. And two, if you decide to partner with Cross or any other organization, know that that expression, that stewardship, is doing exactly what we've talked about. It is affecting the lives of children, families, and communities, and then growing the kingdom in ways that you may not be able to hop on a plane and go and see it, but I can tell you, it's very real, very much the truth of what's happening. Yeah, and it's so easy, really. I mean, just go to truthnetwork.com, and as we talked about, there's a banner there where for $62, really, for $62, you can have such an impact on a child, life-saving resources, food, safe water, and Bibles.

Bibles are critical into those countries. Again, you can click on that, or you can call them at 888-222-9566. That's 888-222-9566. Again, it's Cross International at truthnetwork.com. Go get involved.

Join me, I'm gonna do it, I know that. You're listening to The Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. What does it take for a child to flourish today on Truth Talk Live? Come on now, I know you've got some thoughts out there. Mike, I haven't heard from you all week now.

It's got time to call, 866-348. You know, you have some experience. You went on a mission trip, or maybe you went with a choir sometime to another country, and you had a chance to see firsthand some children and the hunger that they have. Often, what I noticed, I got to go to Jamaica with, I can't think of the name of the organization, it was Teen Challenge.

And we were helping, a lot of folks, unfortunately, are addicted over there, and I was speaking at one of their farms. And we went to an orphanage that had all the special needs. Unfortunately, a lot of folks in Jamaica, their children that are born with special needs, they think that they were influenced by voodoo or something crazy, and so they throw them to the curb, and there was an orphanage there. It's actually a Catholic orphanage that picked up these kids out of the streets because they were left there to die. And I got a chance to go in there, and unfortunately, a lot of these children were crib-bound, right? Because nobody had ever taught them to talk or to walk, and these kids, a lot of them were teenagers.

It was something to see, but I will tell you this. Those kids had smiles on their faces like you wouldn't believe, and when you engaged them, what they were hungry for was just somebody to talk to, just somebody to touch them, right? That they had not experienced that for so many different years, that they really craved somebody to come and talk to them and touch them, and as Kaley was telling us about Cross International, like, wow, those prayers, right? And I pray for that orphanage often, and I think about my friends that I got a chance to meet there and hope to go back soon.

Actually, we were gonna take our whole special needs class there one time, but COVID came and we didn't get that organized, so it makes me think I need to get that done, but it's an opportunity. There's all sorts of things going on all around the world to take care of kids that we have no idea the suffering of what they're involved in, and it's so easy to help. Like, the prayers are just something we can do, but also, just during the break, I went on the website, truthnetwork.com, and I just clicked on the link, and before two commercials were over, I donated easily. I mean, it was so simple.

Phones nowadays, man, they fill in all the blanks and they're waving up. Before I knew it, I'd done it, and I feel like, man, someday in heaven, right, we're gonna be there and we're gonna have a chance to say, well, I was listening to Truth Talk Live and I got to take part in this, and this child here or that child there, someday all that's gonna be available to us because we just simply listen to what God said, right? And I heard God clearly say, Robbie, go do this, and I'm so glad it's fun. And so, I do have my friend, Mike. See, I like a listener that listens.

Mike, you're on Truth Talk Live, my friend. And how you doing, my friend? Thank you for taking my call. You know, at church one time, the pastor came up to me and my wife and said, you wanna do the nursery? And I go, uh, I guess so, you know what I mean? And I said, well, I'll do the nursery. My wife has to change the diapers. I'm not changing diapers, but I'll be glad to do the nursery with my wife.

And my wife says, I knew you would say that to him, right? And you know, that was one of the biggest blessings I ever had because each one of those kids, they were toddlers. They all needed touch, love, kindness, boundaries, which Jamar was saying. And I was really blessed by being in that nursery and understanding what children need. And you know, and now I have grandkids and I'm gonna do the same thing with them.

I'm gonna make sure they understand, you know, that they need touch, love, you know, the things. Oh, it's so cool, Mike, you know, I get to, you know, my, I had a grandchild born in June. I think it was my sixth, but her name is Marchy. She was named after my mother. How delightful is that? And I get to go see her tonight.

And I can assure you, there are gonna be some loving going on, Mike. And touch is a huge, I can never explain, I should find a way to post a picture of my friend that was at that orphanage. The smile that he, you know, he didn't have hardly any teeth and you know, but he had a smile that was like bigger than all outside and the warmth, the love that he, I'm like, how did he give that much love when I know he'd received so little in his life?

Right. And you know, I never changed the diaper when my kids were growing up. I was proud of that for some reason.

But then I was all alone with my grandson and I had to change the diaper. And the smile on his face because he was changing, you know. That was God smiling at your mic going, come on now, you can do it.

I can do it. And he had a smile on his face and I could tell he was kind of laughing. And, but anyways, it's a blessing to be able to share or you know, just to be with these children and then be with, you know, your grandkids and it's just, I am definitely gonna teach them the word of God and other things that, you know, they need, you know, that's for sure. Thank you, my friend.

All God loves. I do know that. And I'm so grateful for your call today. Like I said, I look forward to meeting you someday. I don't get to Ohio often, but when I get there, Mike, I'm coming to see you.

You can just count on it. Okay. Love you, bye-bye.

Bye-bye, thank you. Well, Kelly, I know that you've got some thoughts, you know, as we kind of wrap up this thing, you wanna make sure that we get conveyed to our listeners. Yeah, boy, I tell ya, I love the way this conversation's going with all your listeners and with Mike's input too and your discussion too. You know, we talked about, you know, how do we affect kids? And I think we've talked a bit about, you know, Crosses Thriving Kids Initiative. You know, it's kind of the larger scope of what we do and looking at the world through the child's eyes. But one of the aspects of Thriving Kids for us is, exactly what you just touched on, is reaching children with disabilities. It's not our main focus, but it's part of it. And so much of it revolves around, it's not so much wheelchairs and crutches, but it's certainly part of that.

But it's really more the social aspect. You know, there's so much shunning for not just the kids, right, as you know, but the families also. And especially in rural communities and such where that may not have a lot of strong Christian influence, you know, you're demon possessed or you're ill or, you know, kind of fill in the blank, whatever the local belief is. And quite honestly, sometimes with pastors who don't have depth of training, there's still a blend of local custom beliefs there, right?

So a lot of our work is around advocacy work and teaching. We don't, what does God's word have to say about this child? That child is an incredible creation of God's, right? And it has, is a blessing to this family, this community. I mean, I'm encapsulating it simplistically, but at the end of the day, it's amazing when you can reach the hearts and minds of the leaders of village communities, which are often pastors, and help them better understand what God's word says about his creation. And then they become the influencers. I've taught special needs at my church for like 20 years, and pastors in America don't get it. You know, I hate to say it, but it's often true, isn't it?

Yeah, there's a lot we can learn. Those kids can worship. You want to see somebody worship? Oh my goodness, they have no boundary, right?

They have no, right? And they can add so much to a worship service. It's absolutely mind blowing. And so I know that in those other countries, when people see a spirit set free, it's amazing, right? And what a cool, I am so delighted to hear that you guys do that, because it's such a huge need. Oh, honestly, you know, if you look at the profile of probably the most vulnerable person on the face of the planet, it's going to be a young girl with disabilities in a highly impoverished country. And then you lay on top of that if they're in a conflict zone, right?

But probably the most vulnerable, taken advantage of profile of a person on the face of the planet would fit there. I mean, we could talk long and deep about that, but the need for the church and the capital C church, the global church to recognize that and to engage and to step in and lean in is huge. And this is, you know, for Cross, you know, we're a small part, but a part of that. And this is, it makes tremendous, tremendous change.

Yeah, because, you know, God's heart is screaming. And so, you know, unfortunately, just have a minute or two, and I need to tell you how you get involved. You just go to truthnetwork.com and you click on the Cross International banner right there that says, you know, for $62, like they talk about, that there's life-saving resources of food and those kinds of things, but just the human touch and the training and the community involvement, right? The community development and the teaching of the pastors and all that stuff, you're connecting all those things by going to truthnetwork.com, click on that button, pray. Like he just said, all of us can just pray or, you know, pretty in need.

After I donated, it asked me if I wanted to do $10 a month, $20 a month, you can get connected. And wow, you know, God is just gonna continue to bless that and bless that and bless that. And really, you can feel God smiling to know what he's doing. And so I'm so grateful for all the calls today. Kelly, thank you so much for the partnership with The Truth Network. I'm really honored to be part of what God's doing.

I know you are. Well, Robbie, thank you. We just appreciate you, appreciate all the listeners of Truth Talk and your network. And, you know, we just love being a part of God's kingdom and walking the journey together with you all. Thank you. This is another program powered by The Truth Network.