Compassion and World Vision: It does make a difference

We are so blessed to be sponsoring children through these 2 programs.  I absolutely love hearing from "our kids" and hearing from them quite often.  We have mostly younger kids, but we do have 2 older ones that are fun to hear from because they themselves write to us.  One is in Uganda and the other is in Rwanda.  The one in Uganda writes us in English with no translator.  His handwriting is pretty good!  I was shocked when I got my first letter from him!  Of course, it is in some broken sentences but we don't care.  His mom is sick. He is in an AIDS-prone part of the country, which is another reason we wanted him.  He had been waiting for a sponsor and after 3 years is about to graduate to the next level for someone else to help him through college.  He has huge dreams and we were able to make sure that happened.  All he needed was a chance. 

We got a letter from our son in Uganda (who always writes that he's our son forever) on Monday.  I couldn't help but tear up when I read part of what he wrote to us.  He said that he wishes we could visit him because we are his friend from out of the country.  He shared his memory verse he was learning and told us what it meant to him.  Then he said, "I thank  you for the gifts you have given to me.  I pray that God can give you more than you have given to me."  I have thought about that all week because it brought up so much emotion in me.  This boy has no idea how much we are blessed and how much we take for granted.  He thinks we've sacrificed so much for him when all we've done is eliminated some of our comfort purchases or entertainment.  I love the blessings we've received but not so we can use it for ourselves.  I love it because it means we can adopt another child or support another missionary or find some other way to help someone.  It was so humbling for me to know that this boy in situations much more detestable than mine is praying that we will be blessed.  Could it be that he feels sorry for me and how he hears that Americans take so much for granted?  That we can't be happy despite how much we buy?  How lonely many of us are?  How we foolishly use our time and money on things that will so quickly pass away once we die?  I don't really know what his thoughts truly are, but I do know that it made me want to give more and do more for the Kingdom.  I love all our kids, biological and "adopted."  I do think of my sponsored kids as ours.  We pray for them daily, we write letters to them, we talk about them, and we learn about their countries.  For the most part, we have specific reasons why we chose the countries it did.  It varies from matching up the kid's birthdays with a child with the same birthday so that my children can write to them and relate to them as they get older.  In some cases, we had missionaries in that country and it was one small way for us to get involved in that country.  In other cases, we WANTED to be in an AIDS community to give hope to the children who have lost so much and in many cases think that there is no hope for them so they go ahead and contract the disease since they think they will get it anyway.

I pray that someone who reads this will see the difference such a small sacrifice can make.   It's a commitment.  It's life-changing.  I'd dare say it'll change you more than it will them if you let it.  Dare to care.