5 Years ago….

Dear Sponsor, 

I wake to my stomach rumbling and calling out the need for food. As I begin to open my eyes I see the sun streaming in the crack of the tarp that hangs over my bed of earth, I am cold.  I can hear my mother outside moving around as she warms a tea over the fire for our breakfast.  She calls my name and I go outside our home made of blue tarp to greet her.  She smiles at me but her eyes seem so very tired.  My brother, sister, mother and I gather around the fire letting it take the chill off our bodies as we reach for each others hands to pray.  We bow our heads and thank God for this lovely day and the warm tea we have for breakfast.  We also thank Him because yesterday we found out I now have you, my sponsor, who I have been praying for you for a very long time.  I am not sure yet what this will mean for me yet but I feel very blessed. I am 10 years old…..

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Today, I am 15 years old…..

Dear Sponsor,

I wake to the sound of my mother calling my name and I open my eyes to see the sun streaming through the crack of the wood of our small home of wood.  We no longer live under a blue tarp.  I notice the sun is shining on the picture I have hanging on the wall.  The picture is of you, my sponsor.  It has been 5 years since God gave you to me and I thank Him for you as I get up smiling. My life has changed so much since I found you. I go to my mother who greets me with a smile, the tiredness in her eyes is still there but the sadness in her eyes seems to have turned into hopefulness and joy now.  My brother, sister, mother and I hold hands as we pray thanks to God for the many blessings he has given us.  All of us children have sponsors now and our lives are so very different than they were 5 years ago.

Since being sponsored, I no longer wake up hungry,  I have clean water to drink and I am no longer sick all the time.  I get to attend school and oh how I love going to school!  I have learned to read and write and I also get to hang out with my friends while I am there. They tell me about Jesus at school and how He loves us all so very much.  We sing songs to him and dance and laugh there. It’s such a fun place to be.

Over the past 5 years you have written me letters and I have saved them all.  I used to think I was ugly and worth nothing but now I know I am beautiful and worth so very much. You have told me how much you love me and most of all you tell me about Jesus and how much He loves me. I also know I can do anything I want to do in life now. I do not have to live in despair or feel unworthy anymore.  I know that all things are possible through Jesus who gives me strength.  My life has been changed forever.  Thank you so very much for being my sponsor, I love you. 

God bless you,

Your sponsored child

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As you know by now September is blog month at Compassion.  The assignment today was to write a letter as if I were a sponsored child to my sponsor. It was very hard to write it because I have never lived how my sponsored children have lived so I do not truly know how life is from their perspective.  I took things that my children have written in letters to me or I have learned from the Compassion website.  One thing I notice in the letters they write me is they always tell me they are praying for me and how God has blessed them, which is something I never expected when I started this journey with them.  I know in the beginning with my first sponsorship I hoped to help a child in need.  I did not know at that time how very much it would also change my life.  I can never begin explain the unexpected blessings I have received from the letters I receive from them.

Sponsoring a child has also has opened my eyes to so much I never ever even knew existed.  Some of these children feel unloved, forgotten and feel like there is not any hope.  Many are not only hungry for food but are also spiritually hungry.  Many are faced with child labor, HIV/AIDS, violence abuse and sex trafficking, many can not read or write. They need someone who will tell them there is hope, that they are loved and that they are worthy. They need someone to tell them about Jesus.   That someone could be YOU.

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

For more information or to sponsor a child go to www.Compassion.com

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