Can you relate to any of this?
“Most of my reluctance to Just Begin Already with sponsoring a child, though, has boiled down to fear. It’s easy to look back across the years and consider the times I’ve had my phone, electric, or gas turned off when money was a struggle. Easy to replay old conversations with bill collectors and lawyers and remember how my stomach used to squeeze uncomfortably when the phone rang. Easy to recount old wage garnishments. Easy to recall years that I’ve spent $1000 or more on overdraft fees in a never-ending cycle of appeasing creditors and trying to beat the bank.
“Easy to paint the possibility in my mind that if I make a commitment like this, maybe I will let the child down, and it will not be a matter of my discomfort, but of his or her life or death.”
Read the entire post, From Cornerstone: Sponsoring My First Compassion Child, at wrecked.org.
But don’t just read and comment over there. Let us know if there were other fears you had to overcome before you took the step to sponsor a child. Tell us if there are fears you’re fighting right now when thinking about sponsoring a child.
By doing so, you can help make this post a relevant and valuable resource for people who are thinking about helping a child in poverty.
UPDATE: July 5, 2012 – The original post is no longer available on the Wrecked.org website.
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I think for me the fear was not at all the cost of sponsoring one child, but another and another, and another…I have been sponsoring children with another organization for a couple years now and have 6 wonderful sponsor children with that organization. When I discovered Compassion and its church-based ministry I was hooked and have sponsored 3 more children in the past month. Each time I have looked at my budget and found just one more place to pinch to make the money. I enjoy being a sponsor so much and see so much need that I worry I will not be able to resist the “just one more…” idea and will eventually get in financial trouble. So far, so good though and the emailable letters at least save me in stamps 🙂
I am a very new sponsor of a soon to be 6 yr old in Mexico. I had been thinking about sponsoring a child for about a year now, but was afraid of the financial burden. One night, I was thinking about how blessed I am and the cost of sponsorship was attainable by ending my habit of stopping for coffee several mornings a week and packing a lunch once in awhile. That made the decison very easy for me and I can’t wait to start my relationship with my sponsor child. God bless all of you who are taking this first step too.
Well, this post is very encouraging. I am 13, and I soooo want to sponser a child. I have absolutely no income except for the $15 I get for my birthday every year. I’m trying to make some cards to sell. Then, hopefully, I’ll be able to sponser a child, or at least, send a gift to my correspondent child. Please pray for God’s will to be done. Look on Ebay for fall cards in a week. I should have some on.
Lizzie, I am praying that this works out for you. I was in college when I sponsored my first child. I had two piano students that brought in $30 a week… I have NEVER not had the money to pay my children’s sponsorship, even with no job, no income, no nothing. I don’t know how but God is good and he always worked it out.
Like many others, the monetary and long-term commitment was what I feared. I’ve been thinking about sponsoring a child for almost two years, and I finally made the commitment yesterday. God really made it clear to me that sponsoring a child wasn’t about my fear of financial failure, but my lack of faith in Him. I asked God to make me a better steward of all that He has given me. It seems God wants me to invest in the eternal rather than in the temporary and convenient. I truly believe He lead me to Compassion. He chose the little boy whom I am sponsoring. And He will provide the strength, will, and money. All that I am and all that I have is really God’s anyway; it just finally makes sense to use His resources as He directs.
We just sponsored our first child, a little boy in Bangladesh, today. We have been “trying” to do this for a little while. I kept puting it off. I have been out of work for a while due to cancer, so I have had that financial portion eating at me in the back of my mind, while at the same time, God kept pulling at my heart. At church last week the pastor brought it up from the pulpit and I felt my heart race! All week I couldnt eat, I couldnt sleep without thinking of the Compassion children. On Thanksgiving Day my 10 year old daughter and I logged on and started looking. The very minute she laid her eyes on that boy, she said “mom, this is him, this is our child!” When she made out her Christmas wish list this weekend, she had NO TOYS on it! She wanted 1. Mom to be cancer free at her dr appt on Monday. 2. to sponsor Rasel for Christmas. 3. To know God better and learn more about HIM. 4…..you get the idea…this was not a typical 10 year old little girl Christmas wish list. So Today we sponsor our first child, the one she already loved, and so do I. AND I was diagnosed as Cancer free at my doctors appointment! I know that she will get her 3rd wish to know God better and learn more about HIM this year, because through this program of Compassion, I know that it will not only bring us closer to our God, but allow our new child the chance to also draw close to Him as well. We look forward to getting to know this child.
My fear is what if I’m not able to continue my sponsorship…I am a single parent and am struggling myself…but I know the Lord just wants me to be obedient and trust Him…and in being obedient and trusting Him I am set free from my fear…all the praise be to my Lord and my hope, Jesus, the Messiah…
I’m 19 years old. graduated high school in June of ’09. have had arthritis since I was 6 and have had both of my hips replaced. wanted to go into culinary arts and open my own restaurant until this past June when I took some middle school kids to camp. I’m a Wyldlife leader which is a youth outreach ministry for middle school thats why I was able to take the middle school kids to camp. it was me and another leader who is the youth director at my church in the cabin with our 14 middle school girls some of which were already Christians and are working on building a stronger relationship with Christ. some of them didnt have that relationship. 3 of them for the first time took that step to live for Christ. it made me feel great to know that I helped them make that decision and I feel great now knowing that most of my girls are in high school now and want me to be a younglife(high sschool version of Wyldlife) leader just so I can continue to be their leader. anyways after taking our girls to camp and being involved with the children ministry at my church I have decided that I want to do children’s ministry, youth ministry or become a missionary. now I am on a fixed income from SSI because of the arthritis. I do not have a job currently but I felt lead my the holy spirit to sponsor 3 year old Estefany from Guatamala. currently I am waiting for my packet so I can start writing to Estefany. I guess my biggest fear in everything I do with the kids and youth and now sponsoring Estefany is that I will let them down somehow. I do however in the future hope to be able to sponsor more kids. I make really good cheesecakes so i’m thinking about selling cheesecakes so I can sponsor more kids and calling it “Cheesecakes for Christ” and who knows maybe my story can inspire others to make a commitment to sponsor children that need their love and support
I grew up in a housing project and I knew what it was like to go without, but I never went through anything like some of these children have gone through. God has blessed me to live where I do now and to be comfortable and without want. It is by grace that it is so. By sponsoring our first child it has not only brought us spiritual joy, it is our way of paying it forward for the undeserved gifts God has bestowed on us.. God’s love is unconditional and for us to be his obedient servants, we can do no less than to extend that love to others.
The financial commitment was also the “scary” part for me. However, God gave me the wisdom to cancel an existing (non-essential) financial commitment and sponsor a child.
…this way, it wasn’t an “additional” expense.
Even better than all of that is that God will pay for what He orders: He put Compassion International on my heart during a BattleCry event and He will provide the means to see it through. 🙂
If the Word is true (and it is) then the just shall live by his own faith because, without it, it’s impossible to please God.
Therefore:
1) God will not send us into something that will not require some level of faith on our part, and
2) He also will not send us to do something where we do not require Him in order to get it done. 🙂
Valerie, I was inspired by your honesty in discussing your sponsorships and as fallen human beings, we all struggle with insecurities, if not in one thing, another. Don’t second guess yourself in saying you should have waited until your own issues were resolved—that’s what Satan would like you to think. Instead, you were led by a loving Heavenly Father to those seven children and He will see you through all the way in your relationships with them. If you have a childlike faith, He will use this as an opportunity to make you grow spiritually. Simplicity is best—-we don’t need to quote the Olivet Discourse to them, just the basics like John 3:16 and others. I think what you are doing is a wonderful step in faith and I will pray for you to receive God’s direction. I hope that you will make an attempt to attend a church regularly (it will make a difference) and perhaps get involved in a small group or Bible study. Getting support and prayer from others will be uplifting and you will be encouraged and confident in your sponsorships. Don’t forget to ask your kids to pray for you too. I am humbled by how my kids say they pray for me everyday. You are making a difference Valerie in the lives of seven children —ask God to help you and He will bless you!
Ann,
Thanks for the encouragement. I have a church that if I wish to go, I go to. A church’s that’s been wonderful about letting me help with things like our Single Moms ministry dinners and Compassion Sundays even though I’m not there each week (the church I grew up in wasn’t like that – if you weren’t in service on Sunday morning, you couldn’t serve during the week).
Attending church is very difficult for me though and often brings panic attacks for various reasons which is a lot of why I don’t go. And like I said, the more involved I get, the more emotional stuff it brings up.
It’s a very very long road that I have ahead of me and I’m not going to make a lot of progress down it while I’m still in school, which I still have 18 months to go.
I just don’t want to be a stumbling block to my kids because my own faith is so incredibly shaky right now.
Thank you for the encouragement though, it helps. 🙂
Hi Valerie,
Just a quick thought, tell your kids that you struggle sometimes with faith and ask them to pray. You don’t have to go into details, but lately I’ve been very convicted that presenting a “perfect” life to these children is actually a disservice.
You should encourage them to do things the right way of course, but that doesn’t mean that you have to have it all together first. You can’t get it all right, no one can, we’re human. Admitting that you are human should only help them realize that their own shortcomings are just that, shortcomings, not tragic flaws they can’t overcome. So I guess that wasn’t so quick but still, these kids love you and will pray for you, if you give them a prayer request you’ll have some of the best prayer support you could ask for.
-Andrea
I learn so much about faith from our sponsored children and their families. Who knows, maybe God is going to use them to restore your faith….? Just a thought. Our Jose wrote a a letter recently that asked us to pray for his family who do not know Christ. I was reminded to pray for mine who do not as well. Faith and spiritual lessons from a 10 yr old. I just <3 Compassion!
1 Peter 3:13-14
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”
Fabulous verse Keith! This is a piece of my Compassion story! Our church had a Compassion Sunday I picked the youngest child I could find b/c I wanted to stay with that child a long time, I got the second youngest b/c someone got the youngest before me. I visited Osmari in Nicaragua and will be visiting Bushiri in Tanzania in a little less than a week!!!!!!!!!!!! I will die soon hahahahahahahahhahahaha so I am thankful that I have the opportunity to sponsor for now 😉
I started my first Compassion sponsorship when I was 17 and promptly dropped it in a panick 3 months later when I lost my job. I was really afraid this kid wouldn’t eat and it would be my fault. I found another job within a couple of weeks and have long regretted dropping that first sponsorship.
I’ve been at this a long time…about 28 years now as a Compassion sponsor. I have to tell you guys something: GOD IS FAITHFUL! The last two years have been financially crazy for us. My husband and I were both unemployed and surviving on unemployment from June 2008 to June 2009. Our income now is about 1/5 of what it had been a few years ago. We survive a day, a week at a time and often don’t know if there will be work next week for either of us, but we sponsor 3 kids with Compassion and God provides for us and them every month. Sponsorship has changed my outlook on what I think I need, but more than that, It has build my faith tremendously. We’ve stepped out in faith. Flying blind. Some may call it irresponsible and maybe it is, but God has never once failed to provide what we’ve needed. I think our sponsored kids pray for us too, and I think that makes a difference too. God is good, guys!
I got off the fence today with encourage from my oldest 14 year old daughter knowing we both wanted to help in some way. I was afraid to take that leap of faith when there is so much uncertainty in our own situation with loss of my husbands job and my being sole provider. I wanted to be a good steward but I had this tugging that never ceased. This year at Lifest I was moved in a way, that I even dreamed about some of the children I looked at over the past 4 days. My experience opened my heart to pray about it. Today I turned it over to God that he will provide the means for me, a way to make this happen. Therefore, my daughter and I looked further at each booth once again. Thanks everyone at the booths in helping us find our match. We found a girl (14 years old from Tanzania named Winnie) only 4 days different in age from my daughter that I am now sponsoring. This is my first sponsored child, by the grace of God giving me the courage to take action. I was silent and listened to his calling. Praise God!
i was reluctant for many reasons. I think one would be the distrust that i was taught to have of anyone asking for money. i do not know if i ever would have sponsored had i not gotten to know a compassion employee.
after realising that compassion is a great organisation i was still worried about the money. i am 20 and still trying to get out of debt, so i have been eliminating bills as much as possible (this december i am saying goodbye to my cell phone)
thus, part of the reason i chose an older child is it is a short-term sponsorship (it will be a total of 2 years that I can sponsor him). by the time he has completed the sponorship, i may be married (in which case financial decisions are no longer whatever i want), but regardless, i know my situation will be different. plus, he happened to be the oldest available kid, and it was his birthday!
for me it was definitely the personal aspect that catalysed the change of heart. when i got to know a few employees, they were like references for compassion. you can determine a lot about a person by looking at their friends, and i would say it is the same with any organisation and its employees (even churches). obviously, most sponsors will never have the same opportunities i had, but i sure love to tell people about compassion AND the people of compassion. it usually starts with, “when i moved to colorado, i ended up working for the coolest people ever and the mom worked for compassion and i used to go there a lot, and it is a GREAT organisation” and then i start talking a mile a minute about the different programs and the quick facts
My fear was not being able to sponsor children again. I had to let children I sponsored “go” because I could not pay the money at the time for their sponsorship due to my selfishness. And now I am unemployed and this could drag on for a while. But the Lord allowed me to go back to school at the age of 45.
I had some money from my 401K and instead of burning through it, I listened to the Lord and sponsored a few children. I don’t have to worry because I did exactly what the Lord led me to do. No, I will not say what that was and how many children. I got over my fear by listening to the Lord who sustains me.
Don’t let a good pay make you think you can do everything. I can assure you that you cannot do that.
I’m a wife and mother of three (two in college, one in kindergarten) and a full-time worker at a nonprofit org. I made my decision in May after finally clicking on a banner ad on WAVA radio’s website. Recently I’d heard the name Compassion and seen the small picture ads, but I was not familiar with the organization and hadn’t been inclined to click on an ad. I began to notice banner ads also on Proverbs31 and read stories of others’ adopted children and sponsored children. Soon I heard radio voice ads and spokespersons in the media advocating Compassion. I couldn’t figure out if my awareness was a result of the Holy Spirit or a stepped-up campaign, but suddenly I was riveted to the website and compelled to become a sponsor to two boys. It was hard to wait all week for my payday so I could sign up. I’ve had similar financial concerns as Karen’s, but our shortcomings reveal how God provides. He is a rewarder of faith. The mission and methods of Compassion speak right to my heart and special interests. I’m very glad I found you, and the blog entries have been so helpful and insightful. Thanks.
“but suddenly I was riveted to the website and compelled to become a sponsor”
You say you were “compelled”. It is not just the strangest thing? I felt the same way. It suddenly becomes very personal.
It becomes as compelling as jumping in a lake when your pants are on fire.
Here are a few statistics from Global Food Crisis Day Toolkit.
One in seven people goes to bed hungry each day.
Every day, over 12,000 children (one every 7 seconds) die from hunger-related causes.
More than 4.4 million children die directly from malnutrition each year.
One-third of the world’s population is undernourished, and there are 25,000 starvation-related deaths each day.
These are sad statistics and we really start to think somebody should do something.
But you know it really doesn’t make sense for these people to have all of these kids anyway!
What’s wrong with these people? This has been going on forever! I can remember seeing this on TV years ago!
Now look at the picture on Page 13 of GlobalFoodCrisisDay_Toolkit.pdf
Go ahead I’ll wait…
Now imagine she is hungry and has come to you with an empty bowl.
It’s not the 4.4 million children that die each year.
It’s not the 12,000 children that die each day.
It’s just her and she needs YOUR help.
That’s compelling.
Finances have held me back, which sort of echoes everyone else’ statement here. I hate the thought that by starting a sponsorship and then having to cancel it later because I couldn’t continue would leave a kid wondering “Why doesn’t she like me?”
I finally bit the bullet and decided I would do everything I could not to cancel, but in the end it is in God’s hands.
For me, sponsorship has always been, literally, a childhood dream. I saw the ads on TV when I was a child and wanted to sponsor. But I never had a steady enough, or ample enough income to do it.
A second job I do from home has enabled me to become Lauzi’s sponsor. I chose an older child (she is 13) because I figured that, like adoptive children, they often are not chosen first. She had been waiting longer than six months, as well.
The Lord has been good to me (He always is!) and I’ve been able to send a family gift and will also send a child gift closer to her birthday, as well as a Christmas gift.
At this point, I can only keep up with writing to one child, but if the Lord makes a way, I’d sponsor others.
as a college student, my greatest fear was whether or not my 10-hours-per-week work/study job could support a compassion child in addition to my bills, textbooks, and miscellaneous college expenses. i decided pretty impulsively to sponsor at creation NE last week. i wasn’t going to sponsor, in fear of having to stop at some point, but then i thought of all the other students at my college… i go to an ivy, and most are from economically privileged families. i know some people whose weekly allowance from their parents could support several children, but who would never sponsor even one child.
that gave me reason enough to walk up to the compassion booth, and take 3-year-old brian home with me. as for my fear of not being able to support him at some point… well, maybe i won’t get a new pair of shoes when i go back to school this fall, and maybe i’ll have to get beaten-up textbooks from ebay. but i’m confident that God sent brian into my life, and it’ll work out somehow. and quite frankly, i’d rather have this beautiful boy in my life than any new pair of shoes.
With me, it’s totally the fact that it’s a long financial commitment. It’s not just putting money in the offering plate because I have some extra this week, it’s years worth. That does scare me a bit, but also increases my faith that God will provide the money for me so that I can continue to sponsor as long as God wants. I also started out with some older ones thinking that it would be a shorter commitment. I guess I have come to realize, though, that better I make the commitment, so these kids have a sponsor now and receive encouragement then to worry, and not do anything at all.
Two things I had to overcome – my family does not support me and I have no steady source of income. (I am a teen.) My parents allowed me to do this after so much ridicule. (They claim to be Christians but they aren’t.) They try to raise me up selfishly and I get yelled at when I don’t spend my money for myself. But thankfully they don’t restrict me on tithing/offering or doing stuff like this anymore. And since I had no steady source of income, I’m selling chocolate bars for the money and giving my gift money to the sponsorship.
I’m a teen too. I have a problem of not having a steady income as well, but thankfully my parents are christians and support me, but don’t pay for my sponser child. I usually have only a summer job so i save my money during the summer to pay for the rest of years sponsership.
Good for you, Sarah! Being a christian isn’t always easy..
God bless you! Keep up the good work, it’s not in vain.
Wow. Thanks for sharing! You’re such an encouragement to stand up for what we believe, and to do the right thing even when it’s tough.
I was afraid of the financial commitment. We are a single (modest) income family with three daughters and not a lot of extra in the budget. However, we have found that the saying is true. Where God guides, God provides. A year after our first sponsorship, we now have 2 sponsored children and 4 correspondent children. We’ve been able to send Child and Family gifts to each of them at least twice in the last year. It reminds me of how the small offering of bread and fish were able to feed the large crowd. Our modest income provides all that we need and there is some left over to provide for 6 beautiful children and their families as well.
Our God is so good.
The older children often have to wait the longest to be sponsored because the younger children are considered the most adorable. “Unfair” goes both ways.
But I don’t really think the choices, or the child’s situation, are about fairness. My opinion is that however a person chooses, the person did choose and the child chosen benefits, which is a great thing.
“But I don’t really think the choices, or the child’s situation, are about fairness. My opinion is that however a person chooses, the person did choose and the child chosen benefits, which is a great thing.”
“Rambam’s Ladder” or “The Ladder of Charity”
This concept was laid out by a philosopher known as Rambam. It is based on the idea that there are “higher” and “lower” forms of giving.
In “Eight Rungs of the Giving Ladder” (http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/eightrungs.html)
the rungs are given from lowest to highest in this order:
1. The lowest: Giving begrudgingly and making the recipient feel disgraced or embarrassed.
2. Giving cheerfully but giving too little.
3. Giving cheerfully and adequately but only after being asked.
4. Giving before being asked.
5. Giving when you do not know who is the individual benefiting, but the recipient knows your identity.
6. Giving when you know who is the individual benefiting, but the recipient does not know your identity.
7. Giving when neither the donor nor the recipient is aware of the other’s identity.
8. The Highest: Giving money, a loan, your time or whatever else it takes to enable an individual to be self-reliant.
This whole thing would leave me wondering if one’s giving is somehow “better” depending on how one gives.
As for myself I started a sponsorship without being asked.
That put at level 4.
I picked a child so I in some sense knew who the individual benefiting but she didn’t know me.
That put me at level 6!
Then I sent a letter and now she knows me.
So I dropped back to level 5.
But it turns out that Compassion uses the money to make her better educated and more self-reliant”
WOW I jump to level 8!
It all sounds like nonsense to me!
But the words of the modern philosopher Chris Giovagnoni.
“My opinion is that however a person chooses ( to give ), the person did choose ( to give ) and the child chosen benefits, which is a great thing.”
Simple really is better!
Philippians 4:11-13 (New International Version)
11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
That philosopher had a lot of time on his hands. 🙂
I agree simple is better. All my giving should be done with joy and for the benefit of others. It doesn’t always happen that way though.
If I give because I get something out of it – if that’s the motivation behind my giving – them I’m not really giving, I’m receiving. (How’s that for some heavy philosophy?)