If you only read one thing today…

September 10, 2010 | My Jottings

Michael and I have sponsored some children through Compassion International for a long time now. We have often wondered if we would ever be able to take one of the Compassion sponsored trips to Uganda or Nicaragua or India to meet the children we help….or I should say Michael has wondered if we would ever travel to any of those countries. I haven’t been as anxious to go as he is, but I believe in the mission and the integrity of the organization and am open to God changing my mind about this someday.

We do so very little to help — we send less money per month to each child than it would take to have pizzas delivered to our door. Yet the letters we’ve received from our children and their families have always made us cry.

One year with the birthday money we sent to beautiful Najemba Violet in Uganda, her mother was able to buy a goat. The goat enabled them to sell a little milk, make some cheese, and that small difference helped Najemba go to school for a longer period of time, something she had wanted very much.

With the small amount of birthday money we sent to lovely Sanjana Ajitha in India, her family was able to put a new corrugated metal roof on their house, which is really a shack. They were so grateful and wrote back right away to tell us so. And they always ask us to pray that Sanjana’s daddy will return to the family someday.

The birthday money we sent to little Bayardo in Nicaragua bought a new (used) bed for him, and his mother sent us a photograph of her boy sitting on his new bed with a shy smile on his face.

I don’t share this because I’m so proud we send a small amount of money to some children in need. I actually feel rather ashamed, because we live in such abundance and what little we send each month makes me feel a tad less guilty about the plenty we have. That’s a little sick, I guess, but I’m just being honest. I actually think we should be doing more than we are. But we all know about that infamous road paved with good intentions…

Anyway, I have often looked forward to reading what various bloggers write about regarding their trips to meet the child/ren they sponsor through Compassion International, and today I was moved to tears by one woman’s account of meeting the little girl she has helped support.

If you only read one more thing today, please read this blog post by Ann Voskamp……..

I hope you sit back and read all of it.

I am going to read it again.

And again.