Recently Christian singer Matthew West went to a cabin alone outside Nashville, TN, for two months to pray, to read the letters of his fans about painful things in their lives, and to write songs from them. There were about 10,000 letters that came from people all over the U.S. and from 20 countries. One of the songs God inspired in him was My Own Little World from the album The Story Of Your Life.
Matthew had been sharing with his audience in his concerts that their lives mattered, that God cared about them and had a plan for their lives. He wondered, “What if I turned the microphone around?” where his audience could share their lives with him. This record features songs that cover painful stories like abuse, divorce, cancer, and adoption. It ends with an appropriate song, The Healing Has Begun.
The song My Own Little World challenges us to unselfishly step outside ourselves for just a moment and to look at all the people around us who are hurting. What can you and I do today to help someone else? How can we reach out to others in a practical way?
One way we can help greatly is to pray. As Matthew sings in his song, “What if there is a greater purpose that I could be living right now?” Right now in Haiti there is an outbreak of cholera that Fox News says has killed 200 people, left 2,674 people sick, and is a possible danger to the 1.3 million earthquake survivors living in camps in Port-Au-Prince.
Cholera can cause vomiting and diarrhea so bad that it can kill someone from dehydration in hours. Fox news said that cholera hasn’t been a problem in Haiti for decades. and emergency workers are doing all they can to teach the people the importance of washing their hands and with other preventative measures.
Our dear friend Pastor Jay, his family and his ministry are located in Port-Au-Prince. Please pray for God to protect them, to miraculously heal those who have cholera, and to stop the outbreak of this disease.
Prayer is one way we can step outside our “own little world, population me” and to make a difference in this world, as Matthew so truthfully sings. May our hearts be broken with the things that break God’s heart, and we have open hearts, open hands, and open doors to do God’s will here on earth.
Video of Matthew West, My Own Little World
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