Kristen Welch

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Kristen

Open Your Heart

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“Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God.” Martin Luther King

I checked the time and tried to mentally calculate the line of traffic ahead of me. The hospital on the other end of the phone and city confirmed that visiting hours would end soon.

I would have 30 minutes to spend with my dad. He was in the hospital again with a heart issue.

I was having my own kind of heart problems. I had just spent the last 8 hours and 8 weeks assisting Afghan refugees in settling into their new lives in Houston.  As I drove, I thought about the chaos –and the grief–of the day.

The front row seat into the lives of these beautiful people was messing up my heart. In the last two months, I’ve lost count how many incredibly hospitable and warm Afghan people I’ve met, arriving from military bases around the world where they fled when Kabul fell.We have collected food, delivered groceries, enrolled kids in school, put beds together, unpacked welcome kits, picked up new families from the airport, collected couches and delivered tables. We are helping people who helped us.

And we need more help than ever to continue.

I pulled into the hospital parking lot with 28 minutes to spare and made my way to my dad’s room. I was getting a quick update from my dad and telling him about my day with refugees when the cardiologist came in. He introduced himself and mentioned his background in the Middle East.

My dad told the doctor that I had been serving new refugees from his home region. The doctor stopped, turned and said, “Thank you for helping them. These are beautiful people who have been through so much.” It turns out this doctor would end up solving the mystery of the pain in my dad’s heart by performing a surgery no else had thought of.

Little did I know, one of the young refugee women I helped move into an apartment that day was also a cardiologist. She had been practicing for 3 years when she had hours to feel Afghanistan with her family.We have since spent a lot of time together talking about her long and hard journey to practice as a cardiologist in the USA. The expensive books, the tests–it’s daunting. At one point, she said this mountain is too big. I got tears in my eyes and said, “Do you know how to climb a mountain?
One step at a time.
And in a turn of events only God could orchestrate, her first of three sets of book and tests have been provided for and she now has my dad’s cardiologist’s phone number with his offer to help.
Sometimes I feel like God gives us  tiny glimpse into His heart for His people. And it opens our heart.
I’ve sat on floors in completely bare apartments, humbly accepting the only seat in the home, shared one piece of fruit — their only and best—with my family, and experienced beautiful hospitality. I’ve listened to horror stories of escape and cramped cargo planes, and witnessed the unspeakable grief that comes with losing everything and worst of all, watched the painful memory cross the face of someone who left loved ones behind in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban.
The past 8 weeks (and 12 years in Kenya) have been holy and horrible and more than once I felt like God was lifting this veil to show me how much He loves us in the weaving together of our stories and how far he will go after the one...one pregnant teen, one mom who put her daughter into prostitution because she doesn’t have access to dignified work, one cardiologist who can help another, one American mom who needs to open her heart to end up healing it….
In the next 4 weeks, Mercy House Global’s partner- YMCA International— is expecting the largest wave of Afghan evacuees in Houston to date.
They’ve asked us to fill a couple of specific gaps:
1. Continue to provide and deliver groceries until families can get food stamps (locals sign up here). If you’re not, download the Mercy House Global app and give towards food (it cost about a $1000 a week to feed 40 families).
2. Assemble newborn welcome kits for the large population of pregnant women arriving (Here’s the Amazon wish list so anyone can participate)

Will you open your heart and be a part of one of the greatest opportunities to love on a group of unreached people who faced hell only to escape and become our neighbors?
It turned out it’s just what my heart needs.

Top 19 Recommended Christian Parenting Books That Help You Raise Disciples

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Parenting makes me think of the weather. It’s constantly changing, it comes in extremes and I never feel prepared for the newest season. I’m in the phase of launching a couple of my young adult children out of the nest. Some days feel like a tornado of change. Parenting books aren’t just for new parents. Every season brings change, challenges and a chance to grow. Here are my top 19 recommended Christian parenting books (in random order) from cradle to college: 19 of the Best Christian ... Read More

4 Bad Parenting Signs (And How to Change for Good)

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B doesn't happen until A does. It's advice I read in this dog-eared parenting book that I've kept next to my bed for years. Last week A was "Do your chores." B was "Hey, Mom, can I go to my friend's party?" Ah, a parenting equation. It was simple. But it was hard. Because really, it wasn't about A, B or C; it was a battle of wills. Most parenting moments like these are about control. But I learned a long time ago, it's better to give our strong-willed kids the power of choice. I'm ... Read More

Responsible Parentin­­­g: 10 Ways to Give Kids What They Need

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It’s normal to feel anxiety as a parent and wonder if you are giving your kids what they need as responsible parents. Recently, I sat down with a group of moms and we talked, laughed, and caught up on each other’s lives. We also whined about laundry and tiresome dinner routines and the challenging ways of parenting. One mom shared what a typical day serving her family looked like:  Preparing breakfast every morning, packing healthy lunches, cleaning up her kids rooms, folding laundry and ... Read More

What Is Child Rearing? 11 Practices for Raising Great Kids

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Children understand the assignment… parents don’t always know how to complete it! Child-rearing is the practice of raising kids and providing for their needs. But in this day and age, with so many challenges, how do we raise great kids? Raising anything is hard, but bringing up small humans is the ultimate challenge. I’m a fairly new gardener, trying to raise baby plants, but between bouts of bad weather and bugs, I worry over my small seedlings like a new mother. Worry is a weed in ... Read More

Cry Like a Baby

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I don't know where to begin. I've been drinking from a fire hydrant the past few weeks. But instead of feeling like I'm drowning, I feel like I'm tasting Living Water and it only makes me want more. Before church on Sunday, my husband told me about this David Platt podcast. In a nutshell: David Platt got in an Uber on the way to the airport and his Muslim driver asked what he did for a living. David Platt told him he was a pastor. The driver said I've had a dream I need to tell you about. ... Read More

Thanksgiving is an Action Word, After All

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While we've been roasting turkeys, welcoming family and mashing potatoes in preparation for tomorrow, many from Afghanistan have been granted refuge here in the United States--in total 95,000. Remember when all eyes were glued to the news as Kabul fell and we watched in horror as the Taliban took over the last day of August? Remember how we prayed for mercy and miracles for the Afghani people, the believers left behind, the women and girls who might take the brunt of the evil claiming ... Read More

How to Make it Feel Like Christmas

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The tree is decorated. There are lights on the house, wreaths on the door, my college kids are home, and I switched my all-purpose cleaner to the peppermint scented one. It must be Christmas. This weekend, my daughters made gingerbread houses. They drank hot cocoa on a humid Texas night. I even wrapped three gifts and put them under the tree and congratulated myself for "being ahead." We are counting down the Advent calendar, making the lists, and checking them twice. But the older I ... Read More