Kristen Welch and I are sorta, kinda, soul sisters? As I served on the board of directors of the ministry Kristen founded, Mercy House Global, and we serve together to dream up for you the best #FAIRTRADE beauty of The Grace Case and the Grace Flame Candle subscription that supports local refugees while funding the Kenyan maternity homes of Mercy House — so I get to see it first hand again and again, what we can all do together to change the world for women, if we say our brave yes. I absolutely love this woman with all my heart — it’s a grace to welcome my soul sister, Kristen, to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Kristen Welch

This is a spiritual discipline: to remember. It creates space in our heart and mind when we recall a memory and remember moments of redemption; to not forget who we were before we met Jesus on our journey.

I always go back to a specific moment in time—heart shattered– whenever I share the story of starting Mercy House Global, a nonprofit that empowers vulnerable families by creating opportunities that provide hope.

I close my eyes and force myself to remember.

I smell the raw sewage that ran through the first slum I visited in Kenya; I remember the feel of the squishy layers of dump beneath my feet, the feeling of heavy tears splashing my muddy boots. I see the upturned hands of hungry children and hear the explanation of new words I learned that day: words like “survival prostitute” and “orphan-led home.”

And then the next memory is always my anger at God and the burning question that rose from the slum that day: God, how can you allow so much human suffering?

I didn’t expect Him to answer, but He asked me the same question and it melted away my anger and left me with a desire to do something.

This was the moment that changed everything for me thirteen years ago and the distractions of our culture, the busyness of life, the pursuit of the American Dream, the tyranny of every day– put me at risk to completely forget it.

This is a spiritual discipline: to remember.

He does not want us to forget who we were before we met Him or what He has done for us.

It creates space in our heart and mind when we recall a memory and remember moments of redemption; to not forget who we were before we met Jesus on our journey. The root of remember is to “keep in mind or to be mindful or to recall a memory.”

This is why there are more than 500 commands to remember throughout Scripture—to write it on our hands, to place an ebenezer stone, to build an altar of remembrance. 

It’s dangerous to forget and God created rhythms and offered warnings so that we wouldn’t.

He does not want us to forget who we were before we met Him or what He has done for us. There are constant reminders throughout the Bible because we are at risk of doing exactly that. 

In Deuteronomy alone, there are 22 reminders to remember the vulnerable. Why?  Why would God make marginalized people the main characters in this good story of redemption?  Why does He tell their stories of exile–from Adam and Eve to the Israelites? Why is the narrative in so much of the Old Testament about refugees, the poor, oppressed and vulnerable? Why does God ask us to remember them?

Here’s why: Their story is our story, too. The Word of God appeals to our memory so that our care of vulnerable people will be magnified. Remembering the marginalized reminds us that without God, we are vulnerable, too. 

Remembering creates space. We need to create space to grieve the dark things that happen to vulnerable people so that we don’t forget our story before we met God.

We need to create space to grieve the dark things that happen to vulnerable people so that we don’t forget our story before we met God.

Memory lane is a lifeline and walking down it can provide needed course correction.

Before we met Jesus, we were orphans in spirit. 
Before we followed God, we were fatherless. 
Before redemption, we were wandering in our wilderness. 

If we remember our story, we will not forget those who are pushed aside and forgotten.

If we remember the vulnerable today, we will remember our own vulnerability; we will not leave people in the margins because we don’t want to be marginalized.

If we forget our story, we will forget others. Tim Keller says, that “If the church does not identify with the marginalized, it will itself be marginalized. This is God’s poetic justice.”

The reminders in the Bible come with a warning: Woe to a culture who ignores the vulnerable. Gandhi said, “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.” 

If we remember our story, we will not forget those who are pushed aside and forgotten.

God wants us to remember what He did for us so we can do it for others. He gives us more than we need so that we can provide for those with great need. Think about the story of Ruth (who was an orphan, a widow and a refugee!) and how caring for her by leaving extra grain behind for her to pick up was law at the time. God defended the vulnerable. We are to do the same.

This cycle (that God wants us to be stuck in) keeps us in the sweet spot of where God wants us to be.

When we care for those in the margins, it reminds us of our own past, our own rescue, and how God provides for us. The simple act of remembering makes us want to do the same for those in the margins today.

“A society without memory is like a journey without a map. It’s all too easy to get lost,” unknown. The call to remember the vulnerable isn’t just for volunteers or nonprofit leaders—it is a command for every believer. 

Today is She Is Priceless. It’s a day when Mercy House Global remembers the plight of women, the most oppressed people group in the world. We have empowered thousands of vulnerable families in Jesus’ Name and this is your invitation to walk down memory lane, to remember just how vulnerable we were before we met Jesus.

It’s an opportunity to do something practical, tangible, to respond to vulnerable families today. 

Don’t forget.

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