Today I’m stepping out of my blogging break to join in with a group of bloggers sharing their experiences and passion with different causes. I’m sharing a bit about my journey as Compassion sponsor.

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I never set out to sponsor a child. I didn’t really think about it. It just, kinda…happened. I was 21 and unattached, so when child sponsorship packets were handed out during a Compassion presentation at Spirit West Coast I took one.

I smiled at the face inside, and said, “Okay.”

I didn’t think 6 years later I’d still be writing letters and sending resources across a continent. I didn’t think about the future. There was a need, a belly to be filled, a mind to be taught, a body to be nurtured and I had the means to do it. It wasn’t some huge philosophical or theological decision I wrestled and prayed over. I was 21, I had the money, so why not?

My journey as a child sponsor with Compassion was been a lesson in humility, sacrifice, grace, need, and love.

I send dollars to Ecuador and for awhile it’s just money. I sent a check and wrote an occasional letter. Eventually set up direct deposit. It was nice. Then as the letters turned to pictures and I love you’s the more I realized that this little girl, Diana, wasn’t just a picture on a piece of paper, but a real, live person who thinks and breathes and dreams and cries. How I viewed sponsorship began to change.

It didn’t happen overnight, but somewhere along the way I made a decision to invest more than my money in this child. We exchanged letters and hope and prayer. After 3 years, Diana’s parents pulled her from the program. I’m not sure why, but it happened. Compassion asked me if I’d like to continue by sponsoring another child. I said yes. Why not? Should I quit sponsoring because I was disappointed? Wasn’t there another child out there who needed the support of Compassion?

That’s when I met Pamela. It’s been three years since her picture was delivered to my mailbox. She’s 12 now and the journey to get to know her hasn’t been easy, but in this last year our relationship has blossomed. I would love to meet her one day…to hold her hand and pray for her, with her, right there in real life.

Last year, we extended our Compassion family with a little boy named Gabriel. One day my husband and I hope to sponsor a child in the Leadership Development Program.

It’s hard to see the difference a child sponsorship program makes in the lives of children when you’re thousands of miles away, but it does. Compassion, one of many sponsorship programs, provides children with a few good meals each week, medical care, life-skills, counseling, education, and an opportunity to hear the love of Jesus in a safe place in their own language by their own people.

But here’s where I see the difference. Last spring, I received a letter that Pamela was diagnosed with a brain tumor and is being treated through Compassion. My first thought was, What’s the life expectancy of a child in a third-world country with a brain tumor? But because she has a sponsor, Pamela’s medical costs are covered. She’s receiving care that outside the provision of Compassion would have been a long shot.

I said yes, even when I was disappointed. I never thought my sponsorship could literally save a life. I thought it might bring hope and opportunities, but my monetary sacrifice–which, honestly I never miss–is saving her life.

I don’t say this to toot my own horn. I don’t think better of myself simply because I’m a sponsor. To be honest, I never really considered the responsibility of sponsorship. I just did it.

This is a journey for me. Learning that caring for the poor is real and not as distant as would be comfortable. I meet Christ as I wrestle with my wealth, the unnecessary pleasures within reach, and the reality that Jesus says whatever I do (or don’t do) unto the least I do to him. It was a simple, unthinking yes, but I think about it often.

These children…they’re real people. They are mothers’ sons and daughters and they need us, the Church, to be the Church to them. And we need them to remind us of how the Church really is to live. It’s sacrifice. It’s mercy. It’s justice. It’s humility. It’s compassion.

It’s an exchange of life.

And, why not?

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Would you consider sponsoring a child through Compassion? It’s simple.
Just $38 a month connects your child with a loving, church-based Child Sponsorship Program that provides:

• Food and clean water
• Medical care
• Educational opportunities
• Important life-skills training

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