Giving Through Compassion…

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Nathan and I are Compassion International child sponsors. We sponsor a young man who lives in Haiti. I am not writing this post today to give anyone a guilt trip, or am in any way getting compensated for my post about this topic. I felt compelled for some time now to share with you what I have learned from giving through Compassion.

I have been to Haiti- the poorest country in the western hemisphere. There is no way that I could describe to what I saw and have you, a reader who is sitting in front of a computer screen wearing jeans, sneakers, and probably has eaten a decent meal in the last 24 hours– you, to understand what I saw and how it affected me. And I don’t say that in a mean/bitter way. I say that because there truly is no way I can explain it. I still ache for the children and babies, the orphans that I saw and worked with. Such adorable children! Such amazing capacity to show love! There are just not enough words to describe how my heart felt seeing them without shoes, with pink eye– terrible pink eye. Aids. Typhoid fever. Malnourishment. Hunger.

I remember walking up to a crib where a baby was laying. He was quiet. Very small and so, so cute! I held him for a long, long time and loved him instantly! What struck me was how little contact, physical touch, these little guys were getting. Their brains were probably not getting enough stimulation. How could they develop a sense of security when they weren’t going to get picked up unless they needed a diaper change? (There just weren’t enough workers for the amount of babies there!)

I think back on that experience often. It changed me and I just thank God so much for that experience. He did a deep, deep work in my heart and showed me how much He loves us all. He sent me to a country with so much pain and opened my heart to the pain inside my own country. He gave me a heart for adoption– which Nate and I hope we can do someday if the Lord wills. He called me to not be passive when it comes to those in need in my life– a lesson I am constantly learning.

With Compassion International, I can help a child, like the one I held in my arms and wept for, to have a chance at a better life. To learn about Jesus, to go to school, to have shoes, to eat, to laugh! To develop relationship with someone who cares deeply about his future– me.

Compassion just costs $32 a month. They have an automatic withdrawal system and an online system for communication with your sponsored child! (I love to write to Diego! He always says that he’s praying for me! How sweet is that?) It truly could not get any easier.

If you have not already considered sponsoring a child, please pray about it. I have seen what life is like for children in poverty who do not have sponsors, and its horrifying. Do it as a family. If you need to cut something extra from your budget to make room for $32/month sponsorship, pray and talk about as a family what you think it should be.

I think back to before Nathan and I were sponsoring a child and how easy it was to say, hey! We’ve got a little extra money, let’s go on a date! Or I’ll get that pair of shoes or sweater! Then when I’d feel the Lord tug at my heart to sponsor a child, I would push His call down by telling myself that we couldn’t afford it!

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mt. 6: 19-21

I could just feel my heart breaking as images of those little children swarmed in front of my face one evening. “Yes Lord.” My heart said back. “I’m sorry for not being obedient sooner.”

If you are where I was, I ask that you listen to the spirit whispering to you. Times are tight right now, I know that. But please, now is not the time to abandon those in need to take care of yourself. Now is the time to store up treasures in heaven.

Visit Compassion’s website and pray.

If you’re looking from some further insight from sponsors, Zach has a blog chronicling his sponsorship with an interview of another Compassion sposor as well. Visit Zach’s blog HERE.

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