O Come Let Us Adore Him
“I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”.
I love the Christmas story, and how Christ was born in humility, not glory; in a stable, not a palace. How fitting is it then, that the first announcement was to shepherds, and they were the first to come to Jesus? God’s message is to all men, “Come and worship the Savior”.
Later in the story we see the Magi bringing gifts to the newborn king. That worship through giving is what created our tradition of giving presents at Christmas time. Of all that a man is and has, the highest form of worship is the giving of ourselves to His purposes. Our prayers tell him that we are dependent on Him and trust Him, with our yesterdays, our todays and tomorrows. Our quiet times with Him reflect our desire to be nearer to Him and know him more. That is true worship, and God cares so much more about that than what we can offer Him or do for Him. So come let us adore Him, and bring our very best gift to Him—ourselves.
All of us at New Life want to thank everyone that partners with us to bring the love of Christ to Nicaragua. All aspects of the ministry are going great with the exception of funding for our children’s home. If the Lord has blessed you and you can partner monthly with us, that would be wonderful. One time gifts would be a blessing as well.
I think we tend to only look at the children in our orphanage and our work in Cristo Rey as a way to measure our blessings and success as a ministry, but other lives are being changed as well. I received a letter a few days ago from a young woman who had visited here eight years ago. Her letter was a blessing to me as I hope it is to you, especially those of you who have supported this ministry over the years—our works are your works.
Much love to you all and a very merry Christmas!
Subject: Update from an Old Volunteer Message:
Hi Mr. and Mrs. Bagwell!
I have been meaning to touch base with you both, and the holidays just felt like a good time. I wanted to let you know how your ministry has blessed me. I volunteered at Nueva Vida about 8 years ago as a college student with a group that came from DePauw University, and God has drastically impacted my life from that one mission trip. I was actually a student at NYU at the time, and a friend invited me to come along. I wondered what I could do to help, but I felt called, so I went ahead and booked my ticket.
I met two brothers at the younger children's orphanage, a 5 year old boy and a 7 year old boy. They had both been trafficked for sex by their mother in the dump. After meeting those boys, I felt called to work with child survivors of sex trafficking, and God affirmed that calling over and over again for years after that, so I declared a double major in Social Work and Spanish and then years later, went on to earn a Masters degree in Social Work as well. I have since founded an anti-human trafficking coalition in Louisiana and developed a juvenile probation unit dedicated to sex trafficking, the first of its kind in the state. I now have the privilege of training across the state and sometimes around the country on child sex trafficking prevention and intervention and coalition development. I continue to be humbled and honored to be a part of this amazing work that God is doing.
I often start out my trainings by sharing the story of how God brought me to this point, and it begins with His calling 8 years ago to go on a mission trip to Nicaragua to your orphanage. I thought I would share that with you all, and I hope it encourages you to continue in your work for the Lord because you may never know how many more lives are touched along the way.
Thank you for your dedication and faithfulness.