Waiting . . .

This is four-year-old Wilfredo in Nicaragua.  Don't you just want to squeeze those cute cheeks?

Wilfredo has been waiting 515 days for a sponsor.

Five hundred fifteen.

I don't even start counting down to something that far ahead!  Wilfredo needs a sponsor.

But he's not the only one.  You can go here to view all the children who have been waiting more than six months for a sponsor.  Please consider sponsoring one today.  You will change the child's life.

And the child will change yours.

These Sweet Children Need Sponsors Now

> Fahim is 11 years old and lives in Indonesia.  He has been waiting seven months for a sponsor.  He lives in a country with high risk for child rights violations.  He really needs a sponsor.

Yeabtega lives in Ethiopia and has been waiting THIRTEEN months for a sponsor!  She lives in an AIDS affected area.  She lives with her grandparents, which often means the parents are victims of AIDS.

Believe

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions because I think if I need to make a change, I'm not going to wait until January 1 to decide to do that.  Furthermore, I don't like doing what everyone else is doing.

However, I began choosing a word to guide me each year, and I'm okay with the fact that lots of other people do that.  

Even before I begin thinking about choosing a word, it comes to me, and I realize, "Hey!  That's my word!"

For 2014, it's "believe."

This year will bring some major changes for me, and frankly, I'm afraid.  It's much easier to just stay docked in the harbor.  That open sea can be a bit scary at times.  I've been docked long enough, though.  This ship's gotta move.

Because of certain events in my life, especially in my childhood, I have a difficult time believing that good things will happen for me.  I'm quite good at encouraging others, but not good at all in believing in myself.  

Before Christmas, I kept thinking about the fact that Jesus' coming to Earth as an infant and delivering me from all my sins is the greatest miracle ever.  If He is capable of doing that and wants to do that for me, can't He and won't He do even smaller miracles for me?  And for all of us?

Of course, I have my idea of how I would like this year to play out, but for now I'm working on believing.  Believing in the power of God to work miracles in my life, but even more so, believeing in His incomparable love for me.  For ME.

My verse is Isaiah 43:18--Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

Whenever I've considered that verse previously, I've always thought of it as forgetting unfortunate things that happened, not letting what other people told me about myself determine who I am today.  I'm working on those things.  But this year the verse takes a new meaning for me--forgetting the things I haven't done that I wish I had.  I could go on and on listing those, but I'm forgetting them because God can and will save me, even from myself. 

And that's what I believe.

You Don't Want to Miss This!

Sunday, April 21, is Compassion Sunday 2013.  I don't have the opportunity to have a Compassion Sunday in my home church, but I can do it here--for more than one day.

I have previously told the story of how I became a Compassion sponsor.  Since sponsoring my first child, I have learned a lot about Compassion's integrity.  I am impressed with Compassion's holistic approach to child sponsorship, especially after visiting Peru.

What I saw in Peru were many, many happy, laughing, smiling, excited children at the Compassion centers.  The children I sponsor tell me they love going to their Compassion center, and I was able to see why in person.

Besides the young children, I saw teenagers who were taught skills that they can use to sustain themselves, given leadership roles, and encouraged to believe in their worth as children of the King of Kings.

I can't even express in words how impressed I am with what I saw.

Research Shows that Child Sponsorship through Compassion Works. (Click the link to read how.)

I know that my sponsorship helps the children and their families, but it also helps me.  One day a few months after I begin sponsoring, I was almost hit by another car (not a surprise), and I thought, "Don't hit me.  My children need me!"  Wow. What cool feeling!  I had never been able to see that before.  Now I know I need to be at my best at all times for my children.

When I visited Jack in Peru, one of the best things he said to me was, "Thank you for changing my life."

Wow!

Don't miss the chance to change the story for one child.  I offer you Diego, a five-year-old in Peru.  (How can you resist that sweet smile?)  You can learn more about Diego on My Compassion Sunday page.

Watch this video, read my Compassion Sunday page, and then--as Ginsely says--"just do it."  Sponsor Diego.  He needs you to change his life.

How Compassion Changes an Entire Community Through Its Children

This is Gethory when I first sponsored him.

This is my latest picture of Gethory.  Isn't he cute?

I first realized that Compassion reaches more than just the child when I sponsored Gethory in Haiti two years ago.  The first letter I received from him was really a huge thank you letter from his family.

In Peru,  I saw how grateful the families are because of our (sponsors) love for their children, and I was inspired by their emphasis on developing their children so that they can become independent adults.

I also was blessed by the LDP students who spoke to us, because each one of them had chosen his or her course of study in order to help the community and the country.

We don't really do that in the US.

Today's post in Compassion's blog explains better than I can how sponsoring a child is really like sponsoring a family.  http://blog.compassion.com/from-ragpicker-to-restored-dignity/

Reading this makes me very happy, reminding me of how many I am helping and that God is using me to be a world changer!

I can help you sponsor so that you can be a world changer, too.

A Nudge . . . and then a Plunge

Two boys at PE350--boys will be boys.

I have always loved kids, which is a good thing since I'm a high school teacher.  I also love the little ones, and I am always drawn to the "underdogs"--the ones who have a bad home life or don't think much of themselves for one reason or other.

I've always said my mission field is the teenagers in our public schools, and that's true, but a few years ago at a newsboys' concert, I heard about Compassion and thought maybe I should sponsor a child but felt I couldn't afford it financially.  So I sort of forgot about Compassion.

Then after Michael Tait became the lead singer for newsboys, I heard him say that we should help our neighbors in Mexico (they were building homes for people there), so I decided to try to find the name of that child sponsorship organization and sponsor a boy from Mexico, being a bit partial to boys.

I found Compassion on the Heart It First website when I was looking for information about Winter Jam, so I clicked the link.  I found that if I sponsored a child, I would get a tobyMac CD for free.  Helloooo.  I wasn't going to pass that up!

So ironically, or maybe fittingly, it was good friends Michael Tait and Toby McKeehan who nudged me to begin my relationship with Compassion.  I began with one boy in Mexico, and now I sponsor twelve children, all from the Spanish-speaking countries where Compassion works (two in Peru), plus a little boy in Haiti.  I also have five correspondence kids who think I'm their financial sponsor, and I think of them in the same way I do the ones I sponsor financially.

I have learned to treasure the pink and bows of my little girls, and the sweet girly teenage girls.  I love my girls.

Whenever I write to my kids or send a financial gift, I am reminded of Matthew 25:40--The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  I am honored to know that when I give to these children, I am giving to Jesus.

One of the most powerful verses to me, one that is my fuel to advocate for the children is Matthew 18:10--See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
That's some pretty serious stuff right there.

I am honored to be a part of Compassion and thankful that God used Mike and Toby to nudge me to the edge where I plunged right in.

A Gift for My Teenage Girls

It's sort of hard sometimes to find things to send to the teenagers we sponsor because coloring pages and the like are just a bit juvenile for them.
I saw this idea on the Compassion blog and made one for each of my teenage girls, not for any particular occasion. I put small cards with Bible verses and little messages such as "You are beautiful" in the pockets.
I used this video from youtube for instructions, but my paper was from the dollar bin at Target, so it's not as fancy as the paper in the video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHiSLU7iA4