when isaiah is for today

i happened to be reading in isaiah during my first water raffle 2 years ago.
the day after we exceeded the blogs humble goal, i was in isaiah 58.

i was already blinking back tears just 6 verses in:

"this is the kind of fast day i'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts."

and by verse 10 i was a puddle of tears and praise:

"you'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
you'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew!
rebuild foundations (read "wells" here) from out of your past (hello! is this not what diana is doing!?)
you'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again."


i mean.  i can't even.

i am reminded today, just this very minute, actually, that God is in the business of rebuilding and restoring. redemption is His thing.

and these wells?  these existing, broken, dusty wells? diana wants to breath life back into them.  she wants to fix and restore and rebuild and renovate.  she wants to make her community livable again.

isaiah is a prophetic book, you know.  there is prophecy being fullfilled as we speak.  in diana. in western uganda. in us.

our raffle just funded our first well.  we just made restoring one well, providing 2 jobs and clean water for 250 people a reality.   it's overwhelming, really.

i was just messaging with jody about how i'm already a bit weary.  hosting a raffle like this is a lot of work and very emotional for me.  but thinking back to that first campaign, reading isaiah 58 again and funding our first well makes it all entirely worth it.  there is nothing else i'd rather be doing during water week.  i can't imagine not being able to be a part of something so unique and life changing and heaven-bringing. :)

tomorrow at the water party, we are going to be writing messages of hope and thanks and "wow, you're amazing" to our friend diana.  i asked becky if there would be a way to get this journal of notes in her hands. and her reply was simple "of course, i will personally put it in her hands the next time i'm there."   and there is just something so extraordinary about that.  this is real.  it is personal.  diana will read our messages and know that a community in colorado came together because we believed in her.

so in honor of our first funded well, let's watch diana again.

isaiah 58 speaks of her.