21-year-old Christian singer/songwriter with a real passion for music and expressing both her love for God and her love for us, through music. It’s only in the past few years, as she became closer to God, that she discovered just how effective music can be in connecting with him on a really deep level.

Changing Lives

Changing Lives

Her life, full of loss
War-torn home, war-torn heart
What if this orphaned child was to find she’s not alone?
That there’s a Saviour who died, who lives
To show His love, to take her in
There’s a healer of hearts, a Father
She waits for a hope
Somewhere safe, someone’s love
What if she could find there’s a hope after all?
There’s a Saviour who died, who lives
To show his love, to take her in
There’s a healer of hearts, a Father
The love of the Father
A heart longing to heal
Compassion for the broken ones
Restoring dignity
Oh loving Father
Come share Your heart with me
That I may share Your heart with them
Your love changes lives,
Oh change their lives
Her life now full of peace
Happy home, someone’s love
This child, once so scared has now found that she’s not alone
Her life now full of hope
A chance to learn, a chance to grow
This child has now found there’s a hope after all
Change their lives, God change their lives
Jesus lives to change their lives
Change their lives, God change their lives
Help me live to change their lives
Change their lives, change their lives.

Sarah Drizen

In our experience of Changing Lives so far, we have found a challenge to our faith! We are a very small team, and several of the team already have personal responsibilities which demand their time and energy. But we have found that when we offer what we can do in an attitude of love, faith and worship, then God takes it and multiplies it in a way that we could not dream of.

The story is told in the Bible (in the gospel of John chapter 6) of Jesus being followed by a vast crowd of people.  His fame had begun to spread and many people wanted to hear what he had to say and to see if he would do any amazing miracles, particularly among the sick.  During the day one of the disciples, Philip,  came to Jesus as he was concerned at the number of people who were there, and who did not have anything to eat.  He asked if anyone had any food at all. Philip told Jesus that there was a little boy there who had a packed lunch. It consisted of 5 small rolls and 2 little fishes. Philip asked the question that many people must have been thinking ‘But what is that among so many?‘

Jesus told his disciples to get the people organised in groups, sitting on the grass. I like to picture this challenge in my mind! There were thousands of them! The Bible suggests that there were at least 5000 men, and that did not include the women and children. I can imagine the little boy nudging closer through the crowd. This man Jesus had taken his lunch. He had more reason than anyone to know what happened to it!

The story may be familiar to some. Once the people were finally organised, Jesus held the bread and fish out on his open hands and spoke to his Father God. He asked a blessing on the food and thanked God for it. Then he started to hand it out to the disciples and asked them to share it out.

Everyone watched to see what would happen. A hush settled on the crowd as the food seemed to keep coming…more and more…and more and more…until everyone had some! It was incredible! Not only did everyone get a bite – but they had enough to eat and there was some left over because they were all so full!

‘Now gather up the broken pieces so that nothing is wasted’, said Jesus. Why would he say that? Was it to leave the countryside clean and tidy? I think not. Surely the birds would have come and done that without the disciples having to go round this vast crowd yet again.  In any case, the bread would have been rock hard by then. It was not worth saving for later. This question puzzled me. Why bother with broken pieces?

It was then I felt God speak into my heart. Broken pieces are precious to him. Nothing is wasted. Many of us have ‘broken pieces’ in our lives. Broken homes, broken relationships, broken dreams, broken health. As we come back to our story, we see that we are not told what happened to the broken pieces of bread. And I believe that God would speak to us today and say that there is no standard answer to the fate of broken pieces because he touches us individually. Each broken piece of our lives is of great importance to him. ‘Let nothing be wasted’, he said. And the message is still the same today. Jesus wants to take the broken pieces of our lives. He wants us to gather them up, bring them to him and let him take them and touch them with his amazing healing power.

Does Changing Lives help individuals or communities? The answer to that question is ‘Both’.  In a place like Fiziland our strategy is to help communities. Everywhere we went people were asking for money and appealing for help.  To help one and not another would not have been wise and would have created more problems than it solved.  The agricultural project, sewing project and the sports equipment for the children go just a little way towards our goal. The needs remain vast. We cannot meet them all. But we can make a difference in bringing practical aid to communities, and that is what we will continue to do.

But we do not exclude individuals either. If we think of the paralysed Burmese man, he was initially treated by our daughter and became something of the inspiration for Changing Lives. He has no family. He was already sheltering in Thailand from the oppressive regime in Burma.  He was the first person we helped and we want to continue to make it possible for him to receive rehabilitation and care.

The Burmese teenager who needed heart surgery was also known to us through a personal contact. It felt right to help her, and she is doing well.

The Trustees of Changing Lives will always consider a situation on its merits.  But we have a responsibility to be accountable for the funds which are entrusted to us, and we will always want to be sure that the need is genuine and the money used for the purpose it was intended.