Compassion

I have never written about it on the blog, because in all honesty, I haven't been writing on the blog much these days and I think that giving financially should be between you and the Lord and not you and everyone else. :) But last fall, Coby and I felt led to the Compassion Ministry. We decided that we could forego a few meals of eating out a month to help a couple of little girls, one from Haiti and one from Guatemala, have food for the month and learn about Jesus through a school program that is offered. We have sent our measly $60 a month and written a few letters and said a few prayers all in all feeling like we had done our duty. I have to say that as I write this my heart has changed toward this ministry. I shamefully confess my unbelief that $30 a month could really affect a child and change a life. I even wonder if I felt like it was more of a duty of mine than a true heart's desire. And in this situation, I think that sharing about my experiences with this ministry may encourage someone else too, especially if they have already been thinking about it. And $30 a month is not much to us Americans when ouy consider that there are people in the world starving and living in shacks.

If you haven't heard, there is a Compassion ministry trip going on in Calcutta, India right now. A few famous bloggers are there and are blogging about what the Compassion ministry is doing in that place. Yesterday morning, as I was reading a few blogs about the impact of the ministry and impact of individual donors on little girls and little boys lives, my heart broke... at my selfishness and unbelief. I don't think I realized really truly what $30 a month and some letters and pictures can do for an impoverished child.

So we changed some things around here... Ava and I sat down with pictures of our little girls, Dieunica and Petrona, and talked about how they didn't have any bananas or cheese and we helped feed them because Jesus told us too in Matthew 18:5. We talked about how they didn't have many opportunities to learn about Jesus unless we helped them. We talked about how much God had given us so that we could give to Dieunica and Petrona. Then we made some cards and put some stickers in them and sent some pictures of our family and prayed for these two little girls that God has given us the opportunity to love on. And now, their pictures hang on our refrigerators as a reminder to pray for them and their families.

We teach Ava and Sophia about "being kind one to another," and that God is love. I hope that they not only hear it from our mouths but see it with our lives and in turn desire to live selfless lives for the sake of the gospel.

Go to www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com and www.livingproofministries.blogspot.com and see the difference that a few dollars can make. Then go to www.compassion.org and adopt a child.

Coby and I have expectations that one day we will be able to meet Dieunica and Petrona if not in this life, then in the Heaven!