Day 16, March 21

“Dear woman, here is your son; here is your mother.” –John 19:26–27

“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.” (John 14:15–18 NLT)

Just after college, Karl and Vanderlene Uebelhoer moved to Brazil to minister to “street children.” Even after they returned to the United States a few years later, their hearts continued to beat for orphaned, abandoned, and displaced children. In 2017, they established Living Sacrifice Foundation to work with this neglected group of children, to raise them up as leaders for the Gospel who are eager to positively impact their communities. Choosing Chain of Love as the current epicenter of this work, the following year the Uebelhoers took their four youngest children to Brazil to serve the young residents and host parents at these foster homes.

The Spirit who lives within us so that we would not be abandoned as orphans after Jesus left is the same Spirit who prompted the Uebelhoers to serve and minister to the abandoned and orphaned children at Chain of Love. As is stated throughout Scripture, God cares for the orphans, the abandoned, and the overlooked, and He “will bring justice to the orphaned and oppressed” (Psalm 10:18). Invite God to open your eyes to the orphans and other overlooked members of your community and to guide you to action on their behalf.

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