What’s the best or most memorable piece of advice your mom ever gave you?

How different is the advice you received from the advice children receive in the developing world?

Which bits of advice do you like best, find the funniest or think are most relevant? As parents, do you think you’ll adopt any of this wisdom and share it with your children?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

This Sunday is Mother’s Day (in the U.S.), and the mothers of our Child Survival Program have a message to share with you.

You are the reason our lives are changed. We thank God for giving you as helpers. Now, our faith in God is increased. And we are hopeful of a bright future for our children.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Thankfully, I am aware that Satan is just trying to deceive me again. So I turn to the One who can get me through those feelings — God.

Sometimes those lists gets smaller, my energy goes up, and I’m not so discouraged if everything seems to not get done in time.

And sometimes it doesn’t. Boy does Satan love what happens next — I doubt myself and God. Did He hear me? Am I not good enough in the eyes of my heavenly Father? Maybe I ticked Him off (by snapping at my kids, the dogs, and my husband) and he’s giving me the silent treatment. Hmm … Perhaps I didn’t pray the right way?

Then I really start to wonder: If Satan is trying to deceive me, then you can bet he’s trying to deceive those who are truly suffering: those without food, medical attention, water, clothing, the list goes on and on.

Just a little background as to why I think this.

I have always felt that my sponsored children’s faith was stronger than mine. They have so much hope. They seem to always be positive and thankful. I figure that Satan would try to deceive those who have a stronger faith.

Why?

Because whenever something goes “wrong” for me, I start to complain:

My daughters and I had ear infections awhile back and our doctor is an hour and a half away. I complained.

Or, my husband had to work late and I had made dinner to be ready for him when he got home. I complained.

Or, “Mr. Fast and Furious” speeds past me, but I am the one who gets pulled over by the policeman for going 5 miles over the limit. I complain.

I know I should be giving thanks to God that we have a doctor, my husband has a job, I have food to prepare, I have my own mode of transportation, and that He will hold other people responsible for their actions.

It seems like even though my sponsored children are living without basic necessities, they’re so thankful for what they DO have. They know what it truly means to be without — they see God working in big ways, because they have so little.

Whereas, since I have more and live with so many more opportunities, I don’t see (or it’s harder for me to see) how God is working.

So, I pray for those who know what it is like to suffer. I pray for my sponsored children.

One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 54:17 – “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” I pray that my sponsored children will be protected from any weapon — sickness, hunger, thirst, violence, loneliness, discouragement, fatigue and deceit. That those weapons would crumble into dust as my Savior protects them.

After praying for THEM, my lists don’t seem all that important. In fact, my focus has, more often than not, turned toward another piece of paper, one that will contain the words to build up my sponsored children’s self-esteem and to help them battle Satan’s lies. I write my sponsored children and assure them of God’s infinite love, of how special they are, and how proud I am of them.

Interestingly enough, I find that as I write those words, God speaks to my heart as well: God loves you, He hears you, and you are His beloved.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

“Since I was young I dreamed to be surrounded by children, because I am the youngest in my family and I used to tell God that I wanted to work with children.”

One day the pastor told her about the child development center and the children, and her curiosity took her there.

“God’s mission is being accomplished, and He put us here so we could accomplish His mission and take care of the children. I wanted to have many children, I dreamed all of that and God listens to us, so when the pastor told me to come and help here, I loved the idea.”

Rosario is already three years in this ministry. She started as a tutor, and since last year she is the director of the student center. To work in the center is very special for her; it is a blessing.

When she started, she was in charge of 80 children, divided in two groups: 40 in the morning and 40 in the afternoon. Even though it was hard at the beginning, she felt a big support from the pastors and especially from the children.

“The children were loving, and I became fond of them very quickly. Little by little I got involved in this ministry. This is God’s dream; God’s Kingdom is for the children; so it’s in our hands to take care of them. I love my work I enjoy it every day. Every child has a special smile and they spread it to everybody.”

Rosario is convinced that through the child development center the children’s lives are being changed and through them their families have become a part of the church.

“The parents registered their children looking for support. Here the children have been learning about God and they take that knowledge to their homes, the parents come here and tell us: ‘now we pray before eating.’”

Rosario and her staff are always speaking with the children; they know when they are happy or a little sad. They are always encouraging them, and they visit the families to see where they live and to find out about their needs.

As an initiative, the director started two pray groups with the children’s moms. They meet twice a week. This way she is evangelizing the mothers.

She encourages the families too. some of them accept it but others reject it.

“We are here to persist always. motivations are them and helping them understand that their support to their children is very important.

And who else is actually a great support for every child is the child’s sponsor. The sponsors are a hope for the child. The children are very thankful for their sponsors, and they pray for them. They are able to satisfy their needs thanks to the help of a sponsor.”

Even though the sponsors don’t have the responsibility it came from their hearts to help the children without knowing them.”

Rosario hopes that one day all of the children would receive Christ in their hearts. That is the most important thing for her, and she would consider that a success in her work.

But she affirms that what Compassion’s program did and is doing to help the children, starting with their alimentation, their nutrition and in all the areas, is very important.

“They won’t ever forget this, and I won’t either, because with pride I share this wherever I go. I say that I work in a place where we really support the children.

I really love working here. Ssometimes we have too much pressure, but that passes, and we learn from that. I am living many new experiences here.”

Rosario’s dream is coming true. Now she is surrounded by almost 500 children from her student center, but in her heart she also has a dream for these children she loves so much.

“My dream for them is that the children from Compassion get to be presidents, to have important places in the country, so with the teachings we are giving them, in God’s way they could apply it; that is what our country needs. A Christian to direct our country . . . that is my dream.”

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates