This month is Blog Month at Compassion, and I am participating by sharing my stories about child sponsorship.
Have you ever truly questioned how you could make a difference to a child thousands of miles away? If so, then my story today is for you. I am writing a letter to God, really asking Him for forgiveness, for ever questioning the difference not that I make, but that He is able to make through me.
Please consider becoming a child sponsor. I had the opportunity to see my sponsored child face-to-face, and I can assure you, your sponsorship does make a difference.
Dear God,
It’s been almost a year since you sent me on that trip to Burkina Faso, West Africa where she lives. I was scared to death to go, and even though I cried and begged you not to send me you wanted me to be there anyway.
Months before when I sat on that sofa at church looking through hundreds of pictures of children who need you desperately, I never knew that the child I finally landed on would teach me so much about you. I knew I wanted to sponsor a girl, and I knew I wanted her to be older. It seems like everyone wants the little kids, but I wanted someone who I could at least help for a few more years.
There she was. She was beautiful.
That day in Burkina, it was the Thursday of our trip, I waited to meet her at the Compassion site where she attends. She had a big test, and I didn’t know if I would get to meet her at all. Finally they went to get her on the moped. When she drove up I could no longer hold back the tears. I cried. The picture of the girl was now in front of me.
It was hard for us to talk. I gave her some things that I had brought for her including a hot pink t-shirt. She barely smiled. I didn’t know what she was thinking.
The next night as I walked through the village with our team, I felt a tap on my shoulder. There she was – wearing the hot pink t-shirt.
Few events in life does a person think about every. single. day. literally. for months on end. Maybe tragedies or something traumatic.
But everyday this child comes to my mind. And everyday I wonder if I really make a difference.
You’ve prompted my heart to write her, and for some reason I have not been faithful. I don’t know why. I guess it’s easy to think that there’s now over 5000 miles between us and many days since we met, so what difference is one letter going to make?
Maybe it’s simple laziness or self-consumption. I don’t know.
Your voice was not enough for me, though. You knew there would need to be more to convince me that my letters do matter, and fortunately you did not let me get away with whatever the reason I didn’t write.
So you sent my Compassion child back to me – in a picture that my friend took just a few weeks ago.
My friend was in Burkina Faso on a short-term mission trip just like the one I took back in November. As she walked through the village a girl came up to her with a picture in her hand – a picture of me. In the only way she could communicate she held up the picture to ask my friend if she knew me.
My letters do matter, after all, God. She was carrying my picture through her village.
I am sorry for not being faithful with the gift of writing this child regularly like you told me to do so many times.
I am sorry for making it about me and my influence and for not remembering that it is not me at all. It is what you do through me.
I am sorry for not simply being an outpoured vessel to bring hope to a young girl who needs you so desperately.
God, my letters matter not because they are written from my hand, but because they are written from yours.
Thank you for the opportunity to sponsor this child. Thank you for what she has taught me about you. Please continue to bless my Compassion child by drawing her closer to you through the power of the Holy Spirit. Bless her with good health and safety, too. Protect her from the enemy.
And Lord, hear the cries of all the other children who are waiting for sponsors. Please speak to each person who reads this story and show her what you want her to do to help.
Thank you, Jesus, for my child.
Have you ever considered sponsoring a child through Compassion? What questions do you have? If you do sponsor a child, what can you tell us about sponsorship?
Interested in sponsoring a child? Click here: Sponsor a Child
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