I am so thankful for Compassion International and the good work they do all around the globe. Compassion has been providing so many good things (education, healthcare, emotional and spiritual support, to name a very few, very broad areas) for decades. I can't imagine the number of children and families whose lives have been changed forever because of Compassion. I can't imagine the number of people who have come to have a relationship with Jesus because of Compassion and their partnership with local churches. I can't imagine the family storylines that have been forever altered because of sponsors all around the world. We will never know the impact this ministry has had this side of heaven. But even though we will never know the exact numbers, the fact that Compassion has had a hugely positive impact on a multitude of individuals is undeniable.
I'm thankful that for a small monthly donation, I can have a part in this global impact. I'm thankful for what I have, and that I can share it with others. The amount I donate to Compassion every month is more than many families around the globe make in a month. I have spoken to many people since I began sponsoring who have said they don't have the money to help lessen global poverty in this way. That's fine, if you want to say that, but you probably aren't being honest with yourself. My husband and I together make more than $10,000 less than the average family in my state- and my state is a poor state, compared to the rest of the country. About half my income goes to student loans. We do not have a lot of extra cash lying around. Every week, things are pretty tight. But you know what? We don't have cable. We don't go out to eat every day. We don't buy whatever we feel like when we go to the grocery. We don't go to expensive coffee shops and we don't go on vacations. I would rather watch television on the computer after everyone else has watched an episode, I would rather wait until I can watch a movie through Netflix than go see something in the theater every month. Life is about choices. If you care about the poor and the hungry enough to want to do something to help, but you feel that you can't commit to a mere $38 a month (less than subscribing to cable), maybe you can take a look at your budget and make a new year's resolution to do more to help those in need? It doesn't even have to be child sponsorship. Either last year or the year before that, I saved all my receipts from January to March. I went through them, looking at what all I had bought, and despite the fact that we were under tighter financial restraints than we are now (Brandon hadn't been promoted yet and we weren't paying a mortgage), I still saw at least $200 worth of just junk spending that I could have used for something more productive. We can all do more to help others. And we should.
I am thankful for my kids that I sponsor and correspond with through Compassion. I never would have imagined the impact they would have on my life. I thought sponsorship would be fun because I could put a picture on my fridge and have a pen pal somewhere else in the world. I never imagined how sponsoring a child would change my life. I never knew I could love someone so much- someone I have never met. I never imagined I would care so much about what happens in another country. I never imagined I would be praying for the people of Thailand when they were experiencing severe flooding, or the people of northeastern Indonesia as they watched a nearby volcano erupt. I never thought I would compare what I eat or my husband eats, in quantity and quality, to what specific children around the world are eating. I never imagined I would sit down to every holiday meal, remembering that Tasya told me that even on special holidays, her family only eats rice. I never imagined I would cry upon learning that a woman (Said's mother) 8,000 miles away had contracted malaria, fervently praying that she was ok and received the help she needed. I never imagined I would be so proud of receiving a printed alphabet and the numbers 1-100 from a child other than my own. I never imagined I would receive an Easter letter from a friend in Haiti, describing her church's revival where demons were cast out of people. Did your Easter service have demons??
Compassion sponsorship has changed my life. I have family around the world- children I love dearly and would give anything to go to and hug and draw with and visit at school. Sponsorship has increased my awareness of problems and circumstances around the world- that part is really hard to describe. We live in our own little bubbles here in the United States (and I imagine citizens of other developed countries have the same problem.) We have no idea what's going on around us. And even if you have visited another country, one that has pervasive poverty (like so many of those islands where Americans visit for vacation, but everyone except those residing in the resorts are suffering), you probably still lack the same sense of awareness that comes with having a relationship with a person living in that poverty.
I am thankful for Tasya, our first sponsor child, who calls me mama and prays for my family and knows more about Jesus and faith than some of us who have gone to church all our lives.
I am thankful for Joane, who doesn't get to write to us much because of the tremendous family responsibility she has. I am thankful for her caring heart (she wants to be a nurse some day) and for the fact that she lives in a Christian home. She won't have to worry about her family offering her up for a voodoo ritual (it happens.)
I am thankful for Tae, who really should be an ambassador for Thailand some day. His enthusiasm for everything in life, from Thai movie stars to Thai food to the dinosaur museum he got to visit to various festivals and customs in his country, is infectious, even through letters that arrived two months after he wrote them. And I'm thankful that even though he is no longer participating in the program, he is earning good money to help his family and may be able to escape the poverty that brought him to Compassion's program in the first place.
I am thankful for Said, who has urged me for a year to "welcome to Tanzania", whose mother loves me even though I have never met or spoken to her. Said is creative and caring and loving, and will grow up to be a great man some day, despite the fact that he doesn't know who or where his father is. Not every child lacking the influence and guidance of a father has that bright of a future.
I am thankful for Jayid, our smallest sponsor child. I am thankful for his intelligence, and his supportive parents. I see a bright future for Jayid because of his brains, his hard work, and his parents, who are active in his life (visiting the child development center and sharing their approval.) I have hope that one day Jayid will go to university and get a good job, breaking the vicious cycle of poverty in which his family is held captive.
I am thankful for Annet and Victor, our newest correspondence kids, and am anxiously awaiting my first letters from them. I have written to them a few times already (Annet more than Victor) and I am practically stalking my mailman, running outside as soon as I hear the mail truck, praying to see a cream-colored envelope holding my first letter from them. I'm thankful that Compassion has brought two new kids to our far-away family, and I can't wait to get to know them.
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