For me, I really seem to struggle with faith. I believe in God with my whole heart and I love Him. But I really struggle with trusting Him. I could go into the long and sorid details of my life and give you excuses why. But it just comes down to one word.
Fear.
Have you been there?
A few weeks ago, I found a quote in one of the books I read (I'm an avid reader) and it just stuck with me.
"I love the recklessness of faith. First you leap and then you grow wings." -William Sloane Coffin
Who wouldn't want wings? But before I could get wings, I had to get a handle on this faith problem I had. So I started to tackle it on two fronts. First, I started praying for more faith. Second, I started to blindfold myself. Not literally, more like spiritually. See, for me faith is like skydiving. And I have a small fear of heights. To jump out of a perfectly sound plane sounds crazy and you would need to blindfold me to do it.
So to take a leap of faith, I blindfold myself spiritually, put my trust in my God and leap. As you can read above, it took a leap of faith for me to sponsor my little boy in Burkina Faso. My husband and I aren't the richest. We wouldn't even be considered middle class. In fact, most people would consider us under America's poverty line. But compared to the people Compassion helps, I'm a queen. People in BF live on an average of $20 a month, I know I couldn't do that.
Will you take a leap of faith with me? And sponsor a child? See, coming up next month is Compassion Sunday. I thank God everyday that I was born in a land of plenty. But there are thousands of children that are not. And God calls on us to take care of the poor, the orphans, the little ones. And sponsoring works! Don't believe me? Check out this study.
Sponsorship is more than just helping the child learn about Christianity. You help feed the child, give the child access to medical care and important life-skills training. But you also have the chance to develop a life-changing relationship with your sponsored child. Through letters, you can encourage your child to stay in school, to come to know Christ. You can love and assure them. You can make a difference.
So will you sponsor this child? And in doing so, you not only help her, you also might help my sponsor child. If I can help two children get sponsored, my sponsor child's family gets $50.00.
Ever since I was a little girl, I've seen the commercials on TV. I've
laughed and scoffed at them. I But it never really took root in my
heart. This past year, God has been working to heal my heart and
recently as we began the Lenten season I began to pray that God would
break my heart (gently mind you...) and remold it to love like His.
I read a book called "A Hole in Our Gospel" by Rich Stearns, the President and CEO of World Vision. I cried most of the way through it. By the end I felt a small prodding to sponsor a child. I began to make excuses why we couldn't. Why we shouldn't. Like
Moses at the burning bush, I couldn't see what my magnificent God had
planned for me.
Then I read in my Lent devotional that the time of Lent is not just
about fasting, it is also about helping the poor. And I realized, I
wasn't living in trust and faith. So at a recent Gods Not Dead tour concert, when Jason from Building 429 started talking about sponsoring children and Compassion International, I started feeling a more insistent prodding. I took a blindfolded leap of faith and I raised my hand. And when I looked down at
my packet, I cried.
Looking up at me was this beautiful boy with this expression that reminded me of an old 1980s sitcom ("Whatcha talking about Willis?!"). A small giggle escaped through the tears. I eagerly opened the packet and soaked up the little information within.
He was four years old and from Burkina Faso. BF is a small, landlocked country in western Africa. It's little bigger than Colorado. It battles HIV/AIDs, diseases that we have cures and vaccines for, and child rights violations such as slavery.
It is one of the poorest countries in the world and is one of the most illiterate countries in the world. And I thanked God that I had been blessed to be born in the United States and began praying for this little boy that He brought into my life.
I didn't have my debit card with me that night, so it wasn't until the next day that I set up my account. But it would take up to two weeks to get my welcome packet (I just received it today!). So onto my computer and Google I went for more information. And more heart breaking.
Eventually, I had to step away. I was on information overload. Then late last week, I received a thank you letter from Compassion and it had my sponsor number on it so I was able to sign up for my account at compassion.com and ourcompassion.org. And I was able to write my first letter to my child online. Just a short one about me, Tony and where we live. It'll be weeks to a couple of months before I get my first letter. But I am so excited. I took a leap of faith. And now I'm flying with God as my wings.
"For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into my home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.
'Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?'
'And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it for the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'" Matthew 25:35-40
