I did a Google search for “seeking God’s will for my life,” and it turned up 315,000 listings. Three hundred thousand voices offering up a way, a plan, an idea on how you can find God’s purpose in your life. How many books have been written, songs sung, and Bible studies led in an attempt to answer this question?

Is it possible that all these voices have missed the simple truth? Has the answer been right in front of us the whole time? “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27, NIV).

The simple call to practice pure and undefiled religion is to serve “the least of these,” and in doing so, we are dead-center in God’s call for our lives.

Isn’t it just like God to provide selflessness as the path toward fulfillment? No 10-step plan, no skills inventory, no talent assessment. At its most basic, we can practice true religion and live out our calling as Christ followers when we pour ourselves into others.

Why is the care of the vulnerable seen as “pure religion”? Because we are never more like Jesus than when we express His sacrificial love and care for “the least of these.” It is simply the continuation of a cycle that God has started in us.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. — James 1:27, NIV

Prayer: Father, we desire to follow You, to serve You. Forgive us when our self-centeredness blocks our view of the beautiful calling You have placed in our lives. Help us to serve others and in doing so, serve You.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kurt Birky is the branding director at the Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs.

Read all the One in Spirit devotionals.

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World AIDS Day 2011 is about zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

Depending on how you look at it, and taken individually, those could be small things to accomplish, or they could be pretty big things, beyond our ability to achieve.

When talking with friends, I’ve come across a few things that are just too big for me to comprehend. I don’t understand the vastness of the universe. I don’t get how it’s supposedly constantly expanding.

How is that possible if there is no edge?

I don’t grasp the concept of time going on for eternity in each direction. These things boggle my simple mind.

And then, there are some things that are so SMALL they are beyond my comprehension. I don’t understand how something so tiny that it can only be seen through a microscope can cause irreversible damage to the human body.

Yet, to date, over 33 million people — spread out on every continent — are struggling with a tiny little terrorist in their blood streams, attacking healthy cells, breaking down the person’s immunity … and no one knows how to stop it.

I’m talking, of course, about HIV/AIDS.

This past summer, a few reports came out that scientists have discovered a new, breakthrough treatment for HIV/AIDS. I’m so glad there are people out there who can comprehend the small things beyond my grasp.

I’m glad there are those who spend their careers constantly peering through microscopes to take on the dangers the rest of us cannot see.

Regardless of my limitations, there is one thing I do understand: There are over 16 million children who have been orphaned because of this terrible disease.*

16,600,000.

I want you to see the whole number. That’s how many little boys and girls have lost mommy or daddy to the invisible invader.

If HIV/AIDS was a masked intruder, we’d do whatever it takes to put him behind bars. If it was a government, we’d demand invasion until the leaders were toppled and the children freed. If HIV/AIDS were anything our minds could grasp, we wouldn’t sleep until they were gone for good.

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day 2011. Please join me in praying for the 5,000 people who will die today, tomorrow, and every day after, because of HIV/AIDS.

I ask that you say a prayer for the millions of children who will lose a parent and the millions of others who will lose a son, daughter, friend or relative.

And please pray for those who comprehend the small things. Pray for those who are fighting to stop this awful pandemic. Pray they receive wisdom, insight and opportunity.

Sometimes the small things … are very big things indeed.

*Source: USAID

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We’ve seen them before – the commercials.

“For less than a cup of coffee, YOU can change an orphan’s life today!”

But instead of picking up the phone to sponsor a child, we probably picked up the remote and changed the channel.

And yet, the next channel is a televangelist preaching about the kingdom and asking you to buy a copy of his autobiography.

But did you ever hear the story of the day the orphans entered the kingdom? It was shortly after the King Himself shouted “It is finished!” on the cross.

King Jesus loves the orphans so much that He has made them royalty through His death and resurrection.

We are all orphans without the Lord.

The paralytic in Luke 5:17-26 was an orphan. He couldn’t stand, just like we aren’t able to stand without the strength and healing power of Christ.

Yet as the faithful brought the paralytic to Jesus, believing that He could perform a miracle and allow the man to stand, we need to follow this example and bring the orphans to Jesus.

During the last three years I’ve been able to bring three innocent children to the feet of Jesus, through Compassion, so that they could stand. I have also encouraged family members to sponsor multiple children and create blessings out of sorrows.

Receiving letters from my sponsored children is more special than celebrating any special day. I see their crayon drawings, their favorite Bible verses, and the joy in their lives that only Jesus can provide.

“It is with lots of love in my heart that I send you this message. I learned that God loves me and that He is always with me. When I grow up, I would like to be a doctor so that when you are sick, I will be able to heal you. I would like you to know you’re my best friend. I say good-bye with affection. I love you very much.”

Only Jesus can rescue a child from an orphanage and give the child a heavenly mansion. But we need to bring them to His feet.

This is not a commercial. This is also not a script. This is a calling.

Will you stand for the orphans and bring them before the King?

They will stand before Jesus, but first, we need to stand for them. And when we do this, we prove that we stand for Christ.

“The King will reply, “Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for the one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” — Matthew 25:40, NIV

We are cold no more. We are hungry no more. We are orphans no more. We are His children — lovingly, royally and eternally.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Terry Ghali became a sponsor in 2008 and now sponsors three children. He is a Technical Account Supervisor at an IT support company and resides north of Philadelphia, Pa.

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About 500,000 Kenyan children are missing school due to lack of food.

According to the World Food Program, in countries where school attendance is low, the promise of at least one nutritious meal each day boosts enrollment and promotes regular attendance. Where that is not offered, hunger interferes with the children’s concentration in class, affecting class performance. As famine takes its toll across the country, a growing number of students are staying away from school altogether to help their parents look for food (The Standard, Sept. 23, 2009).

Drought and famine have led to an increase in the high school dropout rate primarily in schools in the Njoro and Nakuru areas. While 29 percent of children in Nairobi are malnourished, that number increases to 42 percent in the Eastern Province (Daily Nation, Oct. 7, 2009).

The United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has stated that malnutrition is the major barrier to universal primary education in Kenya.

Famine conditions have also affected livestock in the rural areas of Kenya, undermining the primary source of income for pastoralists, especially the Maasai population.

Malaria continues to be another source of concern, and an increase in cases is predicted because of the El Niño rains expected to pound the country. Malaria is the leading cause of death in Kenya, affecting mostly the rural poor, particularly young children and pregnant women. Most cases affect children under the age of 5 (Daily Nation, Oct. 7, 2009).

While mosquito nets have made a difference in squelching the malaria epidemic, researchers are discovering that mosquitoes are now feeding earlier in the evening, which reduces the effectiveness of the nets. While there has been a dramatic reduction of malaria in children under 5 years, the disease appears to be shifting to older children (Daily Nation, Oct. 30, 2009).

Other threats to Kenya’s children include the H1N1 virus, child abuse and abduction, and neglect. The number of orphans in Kenya has risen to more than 2.4 million. In 2008, 38,325 children were described as neglected and 2,753 were abandoned by their parents (The Standard, Sept. 29, 2009).

The effects of poverty are felt most severely in the country’s rural areas, where half of the population lives on less that Kshs. 1,560, versus the more urban areas where people earn an average of Kshs. 3,000 per month. Of the 40 million people living in Kenya, 16.6 million survive on one meal a day and are most likely to die of disease, hunger or political violence (The Standard, Oct. 29, 2009).

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I, Irene, grew up in a sheltered, middle-class family. Whilst I didn’t make it to India at the age of 14, I ventured to Kyrgyzstan at the age of 24 with a team of medical professionals and helpers. It was a completely humbling and mind-blowing experience.

I met church pastors who have been blessed with so much more materially than I, yet they have chosen to live in abandonment for the expansion of God’s kingdom.

I met Muslims in remote villages who suffered advanced stages of cancer, but had no means to receive medical treatment. All that my team could give them were vitamin supplements.

I met orphans who were stunted from malnutrition and sometimes from past substance abuse, but have found the love of their heavenly Father.

I can’t quite imagine how I would’ve coped on the same journey at the tender age of 14.

If you read the Reflections of a Compassion Traveller series, you may have gained some guts –- I mean, a new level of desire to meet our friends living in poverty.

It definitely takes guts to travel to less developed nations. It’s inevitably a confronting experience.

The thing is, I have always walked away deeply moved by the compassion that God has for His people and with a fresh reminder of how much I need to give. Plus, it’s quite simple to become a “Compassion traveller.”

Remember that 14-year-old I mentioned? She’s a high school student who joined our India and Bangladesh trip in February. Her name is Stephanie Harrison, the daughter of our Executive Director of Child Development, David Harrison.

Steph would make any father or mother proud. David has admitted to finding the slums of India the most challenging ones he’s visited. So imagine what Steph’s first taste of extreme poverty was like!

I recently read a blog post (A Cup of Rice) by SquiggleMum –- an Australian mum and Compassion child sponsor (her real name is Cath by the way). As a mother of two, SquiggleMum plans to introduce her precious children to their sponsored child and to develop a heart to reach out to the poor. And here’s why:

“Maybe if we show our kids what’s wrong with the world, they’ll do a better job than we have of making things right.”

I wholeheartedly respect SquiggleMum’s parenting approach and, I daresay, David’s decision to take Steph on that trip. If you’re a parent, you may have concerns about unveiling the ugly things of the world to your child(ren). But what’s really stopping you?

If you’ve been thinking about visiting your sponsored child with your child(ren), why not start planning now? The power of being there is beyond words!

I’ll share snippets of Steph’s Compassion Traveller experience with you in tomorrow’s post. But in the meanwhile, you can get started on organising your own sponsor child visits:

If you live in Australia, contact our travel team.

If you live in the USA, visit compassion.com to get more information about trips and visits.

Then you’ll be able to tell us firsthand whether children and poverty are meant to mix.

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“I know there is a God because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil.” – Major General Romeo Dallaire, Force Commander, United Nations Mission Assistance in Rwanda.

But where evil is strong, hope is stronger.

I’m an employee at Compassion. I work as an assistant for our International Program Communications Director. I love my job and I love working for Compassion.

However, for years my heart has ached to travel to East Africa. I wanted to see firsthand the children that haunted my dreams and now consume my days as I work to help release children from poverty.

Last year, my boss agreed to let me take a two-month leave of absence to work at a Rwandan orphanage. I just got back a couple weeks ago.

While in Kigali, I experienced more hope and more devastation than I thought possible. But it’s because of Compassion that I am able to bring you this story about love, hope and sorrow in Rwanda. About some orphans, some widows and some abandoned children who when they have nothing left, cling to Jesus. In the midst of extreme poverty, they choose hope.

Rwanda. It seeped into every part of me. The only phrase that seems appropriate for this country is “Devastating Beauty.”

In Kigali, I saw more beauty than words can express. However, in some of the same moments, the realities of poverty and sickness overwhelmed and haunted me. All I know is that it profoundly changed me.

Like many 25-year-old girls in America, before I left for Rwanda, I attempted to define some characteristics of young men of integrity. In Kigali, I found examples of those men.

The first: Gilbert. Gilbert is 26 years old and just learning English. During some of our talks I asked him to tell me his story.

He became a man when he was 11. It was 1994, and he watched his parents brutally murdered in the genocide. He then had the responsibility to care for his three sisters.

In broken English and with tears in his eyes he said:

“After the genocide, a man from the village came to me and told me I had to come to a meeting to represent our family. He said, ‘YOU are now the man.’ I remember thinking, ‘What? I am not a man, I am 11 years old! How can I be the man?’”

With no other options, he accepted responsibility, and to this day continues taking care of his family. His story is similar to many of the Compassion children you help sponsor.

But the young man who had the biggest impact on me in Rwanda was a 7-year-old named Innocent.

Besides possessing a divine name, Innocent carries an amazing heart. He is mature and selfless. He picks up the emptied plates at the dinner table and then rushes to help the babies eat, or work on his studies. Never once did I see a poor attitude or an inkling of complaint from this boy.

Innocent works hard in school and plays hard at home (He beat me in soccer every single day!). When I looked into his eyes, I saw hope for Africa. Hope that young boys like Innocent will continue to grow into men of integrity. Hope that in the midst of incredible evil and unbelievable circumstances, the young children of Rwanda will grow up to be leaders who follow hope and pursue Christ.

Hope for Africa. Many moments in Kigali, as I walked down the dusty streets, grief-stricken by the poverty I saw, I wondered if there really was hope. How can there be hope when I see little children begging on the streets in rags?

Despite this, God is evident in Rwanda. In the aftermath of the genocide, His presence is everywhere, especially in the eyes of the children.

While at the orphanage, I developed a special relationship with Deborah. This 2-year-old has unique needs, as she has cerebral palsy.

With shame, I admit my initial discomfort with Deborah. She drooled constantly. She smelled of urine as she wet her diapers frequently. She was always covered in dirt from frequent falls.

However, this could not touch her startling beauty. Of the 29 incredible children I lived with at the orphanage, Deborah had an extra glimmer and shine in her eyes. Oh how I long to see the world through her eyes! When she saw me, she squeaked with joy and ran to me, longing to be picked up and held.

So much hope can be found in a hug and a smile. I found hope from Deborah on my worst of days.

I remember one particularly hard day in Kigali. I felt utterly exhausted and wanted to escape the daunting presence of poverty and evil. I walked back into the home, and Deborah was at the gate, waiting for me. She ran as fast as she could, drooling, wet and dirty.

Yet this time, as I picked her up, I couldn’t let her go. I wouldn’t. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I hugged this little one. In her eyes there is love. In her eyes there is hope. And there is no shame.

Yet again a child taught me a lesson about our Jesus. I am Deborah. I am handicapped, weak, smelly and covered in filth. So many times while in this state, I am too ashamed to come to Jesus, to run to Him. I want to clean myself up and not be seen as I really am. But in that moment, Deborah’s vulnerability deeply impacted my heart.

Only weeks ago, little Deborah was in my arms. Now, in America, thousands of miles away and in a completely different world, my arms ache to hold Deborah again. I pray that someday each of you will get the opportunity to visit the country that stole my heart and see the hope that rose from the ashes of the genocide.

Yes, in April of 1994, the presence of the devil was strong in Rwanda. However, this April of 2009? This April, people will mourn and remember, and look toward the future with glorious hope. Hope best seen in the eyes of our children

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