The other day as I checked Facebook in the early morning, I read this article and was aghast. I shot it off to my team in indignation. My boss quickly wrote back, “Isn’t this a joke site?”

How embarrassing.

But this article is funny because it’s true.

Like the woman who wants to trade her tired out, boring Roberto for a cuter, more exotic Thai girl, how many of us have somewhat self-serving attitudes when it comes to sponsorship?

I have to admit that when my husband and I chose our first sponsored child, we picked a child from India because:

(a) my husband likes Ravi Zacharias
(b) Indians are so good looking

Hey, you gotta choose somehow!

I have a co-worker (who shall remain unnamed) who says that the first time he sponsored a child, he picked up the child pack, read the bio and said,

“He’s perfect! Do you have him in blonde?”

He was quoting “The Simpsons,” but still.

Research on why people give to charitable causes is never very flattering to the donors. According to the study this article cites, when we give, we’re often not motivated by philanthropy or logic, but by our feelings. Namely, our desire to feel good about ourselves.

I’d like to think that over the years, I’ve evolved as a sponsor, that my giving has gone from self-focused to others-focused. But I still have to watch my motivations.

This year when giving Christmas gifts through a charitable catalog, I had to seriously ask myself what’s the purpose of sending the emails that say “Amber has given a gift in your name”— to pet my own ego or to raise awareness of the needs out there? A part of me knew it was a little of both.

One big problem with being motivated by our own feelings when helping others is the long-term effect it has on our giving. Like the woman who wanted to trade in her sponsored child, when we’re motivated by our own needs and feelings, we won’t be committed in the long-term.

We will be more concerned with what we want than what the child needs. We will become more focused on what we’re getting out of our sponsorship experience than on how it is helping the child.

How do you deal with this in your own life?

We are all human and can fall prey to our less-than-noble motivations so quickly and easily. How do you ensure that your giving and sponsorship are in response to the Holy Spirit’s nudging and not your own ego?

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

A question typically asked by sponsors who are miles apart from their sponsored children is,

“What happens to sponsored children after they leave the program?”

Many sponsors have not personally seen or visited their sponsored children, and because of this may doubt if our program works at all.

Jonathan, a former sponsored child who is now taking care of more than 200 sponsored children as a child development center director, says,

“I have asked myself this same question.”

Our center directors are perhaps the best people to tell sponsors about the effectiveness of Compassion’s ministry. They are at the forefront of our partnership with the local church, and our center directors mingle with the children every day.

Center directors talk with doctors and dentists about the children’s health, check with school teachers to know how the children are doing in class, and meet with church leaders to be held accountable for the children’s spiritual growth.

When Jonathan tells sponsors how effective child sponsorship is, he presents his own life as an example.

“I grew up inside the church, literally.”

Jonathan is the son of a pastor and he knows what it’s like to have nothing. He also was not the nicest little kid.

“My hobby as a young boy was to bite other children. I made so many of my neighbors cry when we were little, and gave my cousins and grandmother a difficult time. Nobody would have thought that I would be in ministry today, and I owe the change in my life to my being a sponsored child.”

Although he grew up in Sunday school, Jonathan says he met the Lord when he was a teenager.

“It was at a Compassion youth camp that I attended. This is why I really am thankful for being a sponsored child, because if not, I may not have been saved.

“It’s difficult having grown up in the church because you can’t really say exactly when you have come to faith at all.”

Now 29 years old, Jonathan has been the center director at the Malabon Child Development Center for 8 years. He has seen sponsored children come and go.

“I am particularly blessed with [the] graduates because I can see that they continue to serve the Lord after having left the program.”

Among these graduates is Eliza, now 27 years old.

While growing up in the student center, Eliza says, she loved attending camps, going on educational field trips and eating.

At the age of 14, Eliza volunteered as an assistant teacher and began teaching younger sponsored children.

In college, Eliza became a student leader at Navotas Polytechnic College and was youth leader at church. She is grateful because the Complementary Interventions program paid half of her tuition fees.

Her parents, who raised seven children, could not have sent her to college. Her mother worked in a factory cleaning cans while her father was a driver for the same factory. In 2002, Eliza’s father died from too much alcohol.

Eliza graduated with a degree in education and was on the road to becoming a high school teacher. Today, however, she is a call center agent for one of the leading call center companies in the Philippines, and she is still serving the Lord as a Bible study leader.

Judy, Jonathan’s cousin, is a teller service assistant for the Bank of the Philippine Islands. She learned how to play the guitar at the child development center and she now plays guitar and keyboards at church.

Jonathan remembers another former sponsored child, Bezalyn, who grew up in very difficult circumstances. Jonathan describes her as someone who was sent to college by plastic water bottles.

Bezalyn’s mother worked at the city’s cockfighting arena and gathered discarded mineral water bottles after each event.

Today, Bezalyn is a nurse and has worked at the South Star Drugstore as assistant pharmacy assistant and cashier. She is now awaiting the results of her licensure exam for nurses. She was also the volunteer nurse at the center for a few years.

Bezalyn is thankful for her sponsor.

“I have grown in spirit. The main goal of the center is to bring children closer to God. I also grew physically because I learned about hygiene, self care and healthy habits.”

Jonathan’s eyes were beaming as he talked about Bezalyn, Judy  and Eliza and how he has seen them grow in the Lord.

But about 23-year-old Mark (not his real name), the center director is mum.

Mark has to keep his identity a secret because he is on a special assignment for the country’s national defense.

But Mark decided to be interviewed because he could not keep from expressing his gratitude for Compassion’s ministry:

“I would like to thank my sponsors for their help. I was used to a hard life, which is why I really appreciate their help.

“I grew up in a broken family and my sponsors became my family. The center is my family. I am also thankful that I have graduated from college and I now have a good job.”

Mark used his first salary to buy his mother an automatic sewing machine worth P8,000 (US $182) because his mother always loved to sew but never owned a machine.

Mark attends a different church now, but he still visits Jonathan and his former student center.

Jonathan is thankful for his experience with the program and for the opportunity to now serve as center director.

“I can now see the fruit of producing Christian adults. It’s difficult to measure fame, wealth and power, but to me, genuine success is how you accomplish God’s plan in your life. I may not have a high-paying job, but you see children being released from poverty and to me that is very fulfilling.”

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

We are proud to present this inspirational story by Silvano Assanga, a formerly sponsored child.

I lost my father at the age of 4, and it was predicted that we would end up in the streets as beggars. He was our sole breadwinner, and he did not leave much to be inherited upon his death. We did not have well-off relatives, either. The thought of attaining higher education from such a background was therefore not real back then.

It is now real. In August 2010, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi. Having pursued my studies from such an institution, I consider my story to be one of luck and God’s love.

When Compassion began recruiting needy children in Western Kenya, my aunt pleaded with them to consider me for the program. I was staying with her and she informed them that I was a needy case.

My mother depended on hawking bananas at the market to fend for her family of seven children. I was therefore enrolled in the program and my sponsor, Ashleigh began helping me through Tear Fund in New Zealand.

Ashleigh later got married to Andrew, and their support and prayers have enabled me to be what I am. As a sponsored child, we never met face to face, but they trusted me with their resources like their favorite child. They have not only financed my education up to university, but they are also concerned about my future progress.

Like my biological parents, they have kept close ties with me. Such trust, such concern, such love is hard to come by in our society. It is what makes me feel that my story is worth telling.

I was only 6 when Ashleigh became my sponsor. She was a nursing student. She chose to better my life by sparing part of her pocket money for me.

It may not have been much then, but it saved me from heading to the streets as a beggar. That is what encouraged me to become one of the top students in primary school. I studied hard in knowledge that my life depended on it.

Since my aunt whom I was staying with was illiterate, she also encouraged me to work hard so that I could read and write letters for her. I grew up inspired that since so much was being invested in me, much would be required from me too.

I realized how lucky I was when I visited home during weekends and holidays and learned that my siblings and other village mates were having problems with school fees. They could not even afford text books and stationary.

In our family, the siblings depended on my mother, Pauline. She had to hawk bananas and divide the meager earnings between food and school necessities. I was therefore a special child since my uniform was always new, and I never missed classes due to lacking certain items required at school.

In other schools in the village, students had to share old textbooks. A class of 40 or 50 pupils could have less than 10 textbooks.

That was not the case in our school. Thanks to our sponsors, we had enough books, which we shared with other pupils. We had everything we needed to concentrate on our education.

Unlike other students who used to rush home at lunchtime and come back late in the afternoon, the child development center organized a lunch program for us, too!

Such care enabled me to perform better in my studies. From a family of seven – five brothers and two sisters, only my eldest brother and I managed to proceed to secondary school.

I am now the first one from the family to have attained a university education! I can picture myself spruced in graduation attire, receiving my diploma in the presence of my tearful mother and friends. I still recall the long prayers she used to say, asking God to uplift her family.

She never failed to pray for my sponsors. To her, they were my parents from a distant land. They were not materially wealthy. They helped because they were rich at heart! There were considerably well-off people in our society, but my help had to come from distant lands!

There were some obstacles on my path, too. Even though my sponsors maintained their support when I joined secondary school, the development center introduced a new policy that required parents to share education costs. I had joined a prestigious high school in our area, but I had to drop out due to my inability to pay the fees.

I enrolled in another school whose academic performance was not as superior as the previous one. The school lacked adequate facilities and furthermore, I was still required to pay some fees.

Against my expectations of passing highly, I ended up with a grade of C+ in my final examinations. I considered it a big disappointment. The grade did not reflect my true academic ability. Most of my friends in my previous school had better grades and proceeded to universities while I faced a rough end of life at home.

A year after completing secondary school I was departed from the development center for claims of being undisciplined. It seemed to be the end of my ambition of becoming a journalist. And I could not write to my sponsors anymore.

Even though I still loved reading and writing, pursuing higher education became a mere dream. I began helping my mother in her bread winning efforts and worked as a hawker, an assistant in a research institution, and a part-time teacher among other undertakings.

I bought books from my small wages and converted my room into a library just to retain my academic mood.

Celebrating with brother Wilberforce

“Silvano,” my mother would say whenever she saw me preoccupied in the “library,” “your addiction to books is not in vain. You will go to college one day and you will not even believe it.”

I believed the words were merely meant to uplift my spirits. My dismissal from the development center had closed college doors for me. I wrote articles for a local daily, the Kenya Times, just to keep my journalistic skills alive.

I also wrote poems and short stories, some of which were published in overseas anthologies.

While I was working on my stories one day, a thought struck. What if I searched for my sponsors? Would they be willing to assist me?

I decided to write to Compassion’s head office in Colorado Springs. It was a long letter in which I narrated my story and requested them to contact the sponsors on my behalf.

A long period of silence followed. I kept checking my e-mails but there was no communication. The silence led to my conclusion that my efforts were unsuccessful.

I was however shocked one day when I opened my inbox and saw the e-mail. I could not believe it. I reread it several times in order to prove that it was from my sponsors!

Compassion had alerted them to my desire to communicate, and now I was reading their e-mail!

When I showed it to my mother, she was not amazed as I expected. Instead she held my hands and prayed. Then she spoke assuredly:

“I knew you would unite with them one day”

That was in early September 2004. August, six years later, I graduated from USIU with an aggregate GPA of 3.75 (magna cum laude). I was also the second-best student in my journalism class.

When I graduated, my mother and my friends were present to celebrate with me. My sponsor came too. Andrew had flown in to witness the great event.

I know that the only way I can express my gratitude to my sponsors for helping me as a child and for reconnecting with me to support and encourage me even more is through hard work. Currently, I am an Intern at USAID in Nairobi. And I keep praying and working hard for success.

On behalf of the children you sponsor, thank you for loving us and giving us opportunities to succeed.

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

One-to-one sponsorship helps children across the globe write off poverty and begin living a lives of hope. And it begins when someone picks up a child packet and makes the commitment to sponsor a child. That’s when our sponsorship notification process gets rolling.

The field country office initiates the process of notifying the child with the exciting news that he or she has a sponsor.

In the country office, the Program Communication Department is the first to learn that a child has been sponsored. It takes 60 days from the time the country is notified that there is a new sponsor to when the first child letters arrive in our Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs.

In East India, for example, the Sponsor Donor Services (SDS) Associate generates the list of newly sponsored children from our Correspondence Tracking Application each Monday.

Next, the packing list for new assignments is printed for every child development center and the blank stationary for each child’s first letter is also printed out along with the bar code, the names and numbers of the child and the sponsor on it. The letters are dispatched to the centers the following day.

The centers learn about the sponsorship details from the new assignment packing list and letters they receive from the country office. They check the individual child folders of the children mentioned in the list to see if they are first-time or formerly sponsored, and they update the child sponsorship register accordingly.

The sponsorship date and the child numbers from the list are then recorded in the Correspondence Data Chart that every center maintains. The original packing list is photocopied and filed at the center in a separate folder.

The center manager then goes into individual classrooms to notify the children about their new sponsors. Once children are notified, the center staff makes it a point to explain them about the whole idea of sponsorship through informal talk. This helps them relate you better in the future.

Parents are notified about their child being sponsored either during a home visit by the social worker or during the parents’ meeting at the center.

Each child has to write a letter of introduction to his or her sponsor. A child’s first letter includes information about the child’s family, the family’s income, the community, the challenges the family faces, and a small note of thanks from the child’s family. The child development workers (CDW) collect this information from the children and their parents through informal interaction.

In each center, the child development workers help children to write letters. The manager writes down the sponsor’s name and number along with the sponsor’s country on a small piece of paper and hands it out to the tutors. The tutors help the children to memorize their sponsors’ names. The center staff assists small children who cannot frame full sentences by writing on their behalf.

Children who can’t yet write are encouraged to write the alphabet, numbers or draw in the space provided for them in the child letter. Older children write on their own in their vernacular, which is corrected for grammatical errors and translated back into English by the child development workers.

After children finish writing their letters, the check box next to the child names in the New Assignment Packing List is ticked. The center manager then checks each letter before they are returned to the country office for processing.

Once the letters arrive at the field office they are again checked for quality, content and child contribution by the SDS Associate. The letters are then sorted by sponsor country and scanned into our Correspondence Tracking Application.

A packing list is generated for each scanned set of new assignment letters and the printed copy of it is attached with the physical bunch, after which it is ready for packaging and subsequent mailing to the Colorado Springs office.

Once the letters reach the Colorado Springs office, they are routed to sponsors in the different countries where sponsors live. A child’s first letter is important as it begins the link between the child and the sponsor and sets the foundation for bonding in the future.

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

I recently spoke with a sponsor about gift giving. I explained that he could send a monetary gift for his child, and one of the program staff would take his child to the market and help them purchase what they would like.

The sponsor replied, “So you actually have staff in her community? Someone close by that can take her to the market?”

You may laugh, but this is a common question. Our purpose and mission may be well understood (to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name), but new and veteran sponsors alike have trouble understanding what our program looks like once implemented in a community.

When your sponsored child attends the child development center, or CDC, he or she is actually visiting a local church with whom we have partnered. This partnership is what sets us apart from other sponsorship organizations. Our desire is to support the church to complete its God-given mission (Matthew 16:18). We believe that this partnership is a strategic catalyst for community change – starting with changing one child’s life.

We depend on the church in your sponsored child’s community to carry out our program. We, with the help of sponsors and donors, provide them with finances, guidance and accountability in order to make the program a success. According to the needs in their community, church leaders establish guidelines for what they will provide to the children registered at their center.

These guidelines are established according to our standards of holistic child development, individual child attention, use of a national or Compassion-approved curriculum to meet our desired outcomes, a commitment to a one-to-one sponsorship (one child to one sponsor), meeting a time requirement for engagement with the children, and adhering to an attendance standard.

To ensure that the program is effective and funds are used wisely, the church is audited, at minimum, once every 30 months. Each CDC is visited by a Compassion staff member from the field office a minimum of three times per year.

Currently we partner with more than 5,000 churches worldwide, serving about 1.2 million children through our Child Sponsorship Program, and more than 21,000 mothers and babies through our Child Survival Program.

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

Our day together was enhanced by Lorena, who served as our translator. About mid-afternoon, the two of them took off down the beach to collect shells. I could have gone, of course, but chose to wait for them by the pool. I had a plan in mind for the time I would spend with Denisse when they returned.

They were gone longer than anticipated, and when they did appear, they walked right by to go wash the sand off of their feet and change clothes. No problem. But when they came out of the hotel they did not come back to rejoin me.

In fact, I did not see them again until after the official photo shoot of all sponsors and children. So there I stood in the crowd, no sponsored child with me. I was seriously disappointed and upset, and I told Lorena what I had had in mind for my time with Denisse.

I cooled off as we rode the bus back to Compassion’s office, but my real turning point came the next morning as I dressed for the day. I thought about how my plans had gone awry and how disappointed I had been — and God broke into my thoughts.

He helped me to see that Lorena and I had spent the whole day loving on this little girl and giving her a big boost, and that was the all-important point of the visit.

That was my first lesson under the heading, “It’s not about me.”

Yes, I had used my money and taken my time to go to meet her, but her need to know that I was real and that my love for her was real took precedence over my needs or wants.

On my next two visits to see Denisse, we were joined by Maria, another child I sponsor, who was also accompanied by her mom and a staff member from the child development center.

On both occasions, at times when the two girls were enjoying the pools, Maria’s mom talked to me about their situation at home. She was the one who cried on my shoulder the last time we said goodbye.

I felt more strongly than ever that I was sponsoring a family, and not only a child, and that sense strengthened my belief that I should know the details of their lives, as a family.

This year I got my second lesson on, “It’s not about me.” I learned from a center director that one of the girls I sponsor and her family were dealing with a crisis. I wanted full information … and I wanted it now!

I ranted, I raved, I begged and pleaded with Compassion to get me information and to get it quickly. This was a crisis.

And then I received a letter from my child. It was not an emotional letter; she wasn’t begging to come live with me or for me to come see her.

She wasn’t telling me how terrible things were. In fact, she told me that “our fight is not against flesh and blood”! Whether from her or from God, I heard “Back off!”

I wrote a letter thanking her for hers and apologizing for my emotional intrusions into her family’s private matters.

The question of whether it’s about us or about the children we sponsor has generated a lot of discussion here, and some pretty strong disagreement. But let me tell you how my belief that sponsoring is not about me has been reinforced in an entirely different context.

My husband and I recently helped my sister and niece move my mother into an Alzheimer’s facility. My mother was in an independent-living home for several years, in a one-bedroom apartment with a lovely view from her windows.

She had a refrigerator and a microwave and made breakfast for herself in the mornings. She had her TV, her computer and her privacy.

Except for some privacy, she has none of those things now, and she will eventually have a roommate. She is still incredibly angry, as we expected, exacerbated by the losses.

The night before we came home, she kept talking about all the things that she missed. I am not suggesting that her grieving the losses was unreasonable. But in her complaints, I heard a wake-up call: I need to hold the people, places and things that I love in an open palm, ready to let go whenever I need to do that.

I want to walk into heaven with empty hands and a joyful heart, missing nothing that I’ve left behind.

This lesson extends to my sponsored children. Any of them might leave the program at any time; those who stay will eventually graduate. I might be able to stay in touch with one or two, but I must be prepared to let them get on with their lives.

I must be content to have been a part of their lives for a season, however long that season may last.

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

God blessed me over and over during my years as a tour guide and allowed me to see His spirit move in the hearts of tour guests on behalf of children in poverty. During that time, He also revealed to me the presence of a small but powerful lie being used against us every day – the lie of poverty.

First, poverty lies to the poor by telling them over and over that they do not matter, that no one cares for them, and that they are forgotten. Poverty speaks to the heart of a person (especially children) and tells them, “Give Up!”

But that’s only one part of the lie of poverty. The lie is actually a double-edged sword, and it cuts us as well.

With stealth and determination, the lie of poverty tries to redefine what sponsorship means. It causes us to doubt to the difference we are making in the lives of our children.

Have any of these thoughts ever gone through your mind?

• My sponsorship is insignificant, and letters to my sponsored child don’t matter.
• How can a simple thing like a letter make any difference in the life of a child?
• It takes so long for my letter to get to my child, there’s no way a relationship could ever be built.
• They don’t know me and I don’t really know them! Poverty is so big, a simple letter couldn’t possibly be the weapon to use to fight it.

Have you bought into the lie of poverty? Has it fooled you?

As a sponsor, I take great pride in fighting the lie spoken to the poor. I fight it diligently and with fervor. I have to because our enemy is diligent and determined, too.

The truth is that our letters may be the most critical element in releasing our sponsored children from poverty.

The time we spend on writing is sacrificial. The letters we write are mighty weapons that slay the enemy and cut him down at the knees.

I have seen the faces of sponsored children when they talk about receiving letters from their sponsors. They have told me with tears in their eyes how letters from you are the very strength that gives them the courage to keep going and to not give up.

I have met sponsored children who are now adults and still have every precious letter and sticker their sponsors ever gave them. Letters matter!

Letters are weapons against the enemy! Sponsorship makes ALL the difference in the world! Don’t be fooled by the lie!

Write your child now.

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

My husband and I sponsor a 10-year-old girl in Burkina Faso named Evelyne. Evelyne has five siblings, none of whom are in the child sponsorship program.

Compassion’s policy is that a maximum of three children from the same family can be registered in the sponsorship program. However, some countries limit the number of children registered from one family to one or two. And when a country first opens its sponsorship program, it is common for only one child per family to be allowed in the program due to capacity limitations.

That may seem harsh, but it’s quite strategic from a Kingdom perspective. Compassion’s desire is to reach as many families as possible in the communities where a child development center has opened.

Compassion works through local indigenous churches in 25 developing countries, and these are poor churches. It’s one child development center to one church – no exceptions.

When a church partner opens a child development center, there may be room for only 200 children. And the reality is, there are more children than spots available (“the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few,” so to speak).

By registering one to three children per family, our church partners are canvassing a larger area of the community, thus having a greater opportunity to share the gospel with more families. In reality, child registration limitations help more people in the long run.

So, back to Evelyne.

Evelyne has an older sister named Elise, whom I first started noticing in the photos that accompanied Evelyne’s letters.

Whenever my husband and I would send a family or child gift, we would receive a photo of Evelyne (in the blue denim skirt) and her entire family. I love these photos because they show how the family uses our gifts. They purchase food and clothing primarily, and Evelyne’s entire family gets in on God’s love.

In one of the photos, I noticed Elise (in the pink skirt). The expression of her eyes and the smile on her face spoke to me.

“You care for my sister Evelyne because you are her sponsor, but I would like to get to know you too.”

Elise reached out and grabbed my heart from that photo.

I realize that God wants me to look at my sponsorship of Evelyne from a whole new perspective. My goal now is to win Evelyne’s entire family to Christ.

Now, when I write to Evelyne, I always include Elise by asking about Elise and letting Evelyne know that I pray for her entire family. I also ask Evelyne to share my letters with Elise and the rest of the family.

Sponsorship is a family affair, no matter how many children from the same family are in the program.

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

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

And called it his best work.

In the spirit of Hemingway’s brevity, and maybe with little help from the Holy Spirit, can you sum up your sponsorship experience in six words?

Here’s what we came up with.

Thought I gave. But I received. – Tim Glenn

Now poverty isn’t just a word. – Becky Tshamler

Random pick doesn’t seem random anymore. – Chris Giovagnoni

Black smiling eyes. World beyond myself. – Amber Van Schooneveld

They focus up. I’m distracted down. – Meredith Dunn

My child shows me Him. – Brianne Mullins

Abundant life for kids in poverty. – David Dahlin

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

We sleep in, which for our family is until about 8:15. We shower and dress for the day, as we usually spend the afternoon with extended family, and we often debate about what we want Dad to make for breakfast. It’s usually his world famous omelets. If you think I’m exaggerating . . . well, I’m not. They’re insane. 

This one particular Christmas, though, held one very unique gift, wrapped in a beige envelope and delicately placed in between the branches of our tree. There were actually two envelopes; one had my brother’s name on it and the other had mine, written in my mother’s elegant penmanship. 

Curious as to what could possibly be in something the size of a letter and thin as paper, my brother and I opened them slowly, simultaneously. 

Please be a check.

A picture of a beautiful little girl from Indonesia, about my age, came to light as I slowly pulled the contents out. I looked at my parents, utterly confused.

“I don’t get it.” I said innocently.

I really didn’t. Were they breaking the news that I would soon have a sister via adoption or that they were exchanging me for her entirely? My brother used to always joke that I was adopted, and I suddenly wondered if perhaps I was. Was I really related to this girl? 

As my parents explained to me who she was and what Compassion was doing for her, I can honestly say that I was moved. I was grateful for the knowledge and understanding of her and what she encompassed: life outside the blessed United States of America, literal need and not obsession with want.

Despite my age (10), it was sobering, thought provoking, and challenging. An unlikely gift, one that I certainly didn’t ask for, but something I was grateful to have received. 

Now I must continue to be honest, and, unfortunately, the rest of the story is not as neat and tidy as it began.

I remember being excited the first time I received her letter. Getting to see the words that she herself had written and the translation into English on the other side was fascinating to me. But where fascination with her began, intimidation and miscommunication soon followed.

Her letters were filled with praise and glory to the Lord, thanksgiving for her current health (because it wavered) and things of the like. And the degree and extent of her faith was beyond my comprehension. I couldn’t seem to follow along or understand the depth of it considering her circumstances.

“She sounds fine to me,” I thought. “Does she need me to be her pen-pal? Does she really need us to sponsor her?”

Such questions stemmed from naivety on my part in two ways.

1. I didn’t fully understand poverty, nor did I fully understand the blessing of my personal upbringing.
2. My little girl’s spiritual maturity was far above my own. We both had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The only difference was she was walking in faith because that was all she had. I didn’t even know how to walk in faith because I never had too.

The prideful part of me hates to admit to such a lack of knowledge and understanding, to such an ignorant and sheltered view of life and faith. But there’s something to it.

I was asked to write a blog post about the gift of sponsorship that I received because, given the season, we want you to consider the idea as well.

After I began writing, I remembered that my story was not like that of so many others who write vigilantly and faithfully, who send their children gifts and pictures, who remember — without fail — to pray for the little one every night.

I cannot attest to any of those things. 

But, what I can say is that so many years later, through the mysterious and divine intercession of the Lord, I am more aware than I ever thought I would be of who Compassion really is and what Compassion really does.

My little girl has since graduated, and I feel as though, perhaps in some small way, my journey to Compassion and my season here — however long that may be — is a tribute to her and the lessons that she taught me long ago. I remember her frequently as I walk the halls of the office, contemplating just how it is that I got here and just what it is that I am here to do. 

Honestly, some days I still don’t know. Other days it’s clear as day. But everyday, without fail, I feel the Lord is changing me, and I find myself feeding off of and borrowing from the richness of faith from the little faces I see on our walls. 

If you have a child I would ask that you prayerfully consider sponsoring a child in his or her name. Give the gift of insight, perspective, and fellowship to your child this Christmas. 

Like me, they may not fully grasp or understand the power that the gift holds. But the Lord’s timing is perfect.

“I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in [them], will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” –Philippians 1:6 ESV

Merry Christmas.

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