Comments on: Do You Love Your Sponsored Child?

By: Helen ONeal

Helen ONeal — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 15:46:04 +0000

Great post…and DITTO here!

By: Helen ONeal

Helen ONeal — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 15:43:37 +0000

wow, Jill–your paragraph here mirrors how i feel and think about my sponsored children…almost exactly!

By: Duane Watts

Duane Watts — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:39:13 +0000

This Comment is late for this blog. The Haiti earthquake is going on a month past. I have wanted to sponsor a child for several years now, but did not take any initiative. I initially felt a little callous about Haiti, I asked the Lord to forgive me, and give me true love for the poorest lost.
At the same time I am learning about the Trinity, and that everything God does is an outworking of that eternal Love between Father Son and Holy Spirit. Now 1 Corinthians 13 begins to take on new meaning.

I heard a representative from Compassion on Moody radio calling out for help for Haiti. I was moved, came to the website to make a donation. While here, I looked at the children that need sponsors. Over a couple hours I decided we need to help a child from Haiti. I have 2 little granddaughters sleeping safely in the next room. (It happens EVERY TIME: I’m tearing up thinking about it!) I need to look for a girl in Haiti 4 or 5 years old.
Oops! Sponsor children are not available yet because they don’t yet know who survives and where they are!
So now I pray, many times a day. At work, someone may catch me tear up. I don’t know who she is yet. I know she’s alive, because the Lord has chosen her for us. I pray that she doesn’t go to sleep hungry. I pray that she has someplace dry and safe to sleep tonight. And I pray she will be safe tomorrow and be fed. I pray for the staff who will locate her and register her, and for her parent(s).

You may say this is the germinating seed of love. I think it’s a miracle. I think it’s the Love of God refracting through me to be shed abroad in the world. It’s more than a decision, because it’s a miracle. My 50 year old heart was waxing cold (“why keep me here another 50 years Lord?”).
Suddenly I am warm all over. I want to embrace my wife and daughter and grandchildren to assure them that they are loved.
It won’t be about doing what I “ought” to do any more. If the Love of God is shed abroad in my heart I will love to do what He loves.
This, for now, is my deep conviction, and my prayer.

It is my prayer for All my family, our church all of the staff at Compassion, and church and staff in Haiti, that we all love our children with the Love of Jesus, who knew hunger, homelessness, and rejection for us.
Lord Jesus, Please keep our little girl safe and comfortable tonight.

By: Mara K

Mara K — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:09:37 +0000

Cheryl J said it just right, love is a “conscious decision” and beyond that, the kind of love we can have for our children is a gift from God.

I prayed for God to give me a heart for the poor and needy. I knew he had answered my prayer when I was genuinely drawn to the ministries and children I support.

As I develop a relationship with them through letter writing, praying, thinking, dwelling, sharing, etc, my love for them grows more and more.

Love truly is a verb…

And true love, as a decision, doesn’t wait for what one gets but moves forward, always moves toward the other. Jesus pursued us and in turn, we should pursue those little ones that desperately need to know that the Love of Christ is more than just words, it is manifested through his faithful children giving not only money but giving themselves.

By: Jin

Jin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:35:48 +0000

Love has many faces, I believe. Sometimes it becomes a feeling of sadness, sometimes happiness, sometimes worries and the like. These are those feelings i have while i’m praying or writing for my sponsored child.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:24:04 +0000

I agree with Compassion Dave. Love is a verb.

By: mindy kendall

mindy kendall — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:22:03 +0000

I, too, scour the country headlines daily, and sometimes hourly, of my children. They are the children of my heart. when I know they are in the middle of a hurricane, i pray non-stop for their safety. i pray for them to know God and to desire to serve Him. I love my letters from them, each child has his/her own scrapbook with letters and photos. when my child from haiti left the project, i wrote one last letter to her and told her i would pray for her for the rest of my life. she is still a child of my heart. Once a child has stolen your heart, they are yours as much as your own birth children. Fransisco’s mother kept crying and hugging me and thanking me for loving her son.
the tears keep flowing with love for these precious little ones.

By: compassion dave

compassion dave — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:27:57 +0000

Agape love is a verb, not a salutation and not an emotion. It’s the kind of love that enables a Christian to bring Hitler a cup of coffee. Emotional love does not have the capcity to do that. It’s the kind of love that enabled Christ to say, “Forgive them…they don’t know what they are doing.”

By: Ken M.

Ken M. — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:42:13 +0000

I love my sponsored children. How do I know? I don’t refer to them as the children I sponsor. They’re my children. Even though I didn’t birth them or father them I still assist with the care of them through my sponsorship so they’re my children, too.

All of them are in my prayers and my thoughts. I still pray for them when they are taken off the sponsorship list. I have lost 2 kids due to the parents taking them off the sponsorship list and each time it felt like a hole was in my heart, especially when I lost my 2nd one this summer.

When I see the tan colored envelope with the label, “Message from your sponsored child”, I know that my face lights up and I can’t wait to open it. During my correspondence I ask God to help me say the right words that will encourage them and leave them with a positive feeling about themselves. With each letter they become more real to me. I pray that God opens the door to allow me to see them face to face.

I love my sponsored children.

By: Vicki Small

Vicki Small — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:17:49 +0000

I know not all sponsors love their sponsored kids, at least not as previous commenters have described their love, and not as I love mine. When I hear sponsors say they just don’t have time to write letters or send little gifts, and they don’t seem concerned about it, I’m pretty sure they took on a financial commitment, only. They’re doing a good thing by providing financial support, but they aren’t providing for the child’s emotional and spiritual needs.

I have even had a man walk away from the table after arguing with his wife that he didn’t want any responsibility beyond sending money; nor would he allow his wife to handle the correspondence. If he was going to sponsor a child, it was his “thing.”

On my last sponsor tour, I chatted over breakfast, near the end of the week, with a retired couple. They had never been very regular about writing, because they weren’t getting much satisfaction from the child’s letters. But now that they had met her, they thought they might be interested in writing a little more often.

I love my girls. I’m thrilled to know I’ll be seeing two of them in the next 3 weeks (!), and I ache to realize that I may never be able to meet the others, in this life. Thank God that they know and love Jesus! We will meet, one day.