Stories to Connect You With Compassion & Grow Your Faith

Kids sure do love their birthdays. As I write this, my wife and I are in the midst of planning a birthday party for our two sons. They are turning 9 and 7. Their birthdays are within two weeks of each other, and since they are so close in age, they share many of the same friends. So, we’re able to do a bit of a two-for-one deal.

Baby Deinner was delivered prematurely via emergency surgery as his mother, Cindy, battled COVID-19. Tragically, Cindy died the day after — leaving Deinner’s grandmother, Bridis, to raise her baby grandson and his two siblings.

Bridis shares her daughter’s story and expresses her hopes for Deinner’s future in this letter she wrote for him to read one day.

This Good Friday, our friends at Compassion UK put together a beautiful recipe for easy-to-make hot cross buns paired with an Easter devotional. Once you’ve made your buns, settle down to reflect on the Easter message — and learn about the history of hot cross buns!

OK, so I need to make a confession … I’m not as good as I should be at writing letters to my sponsored child. And I make all sorts of reasonable excuses for it, too:

“My life is already so busy with my work and kids that it’s hard to find the time.” “I feel like I just wrote a letter a couple months ago.” (It was 10 months ago.) “I need to wait until I have more to say.” “My letters don’t really matter anyway.”

In northern Uganda, young Betty once faced a frustrating choice: walk nearly 4 miles to fetch water that cows and pigs also drank from, or drink from the nearby well, which was wriggling with worms.

For Betty, a safe water point changed everything. See for yourself! Meet Betty and other children whose lives changed after they gained access to safe drinking water.

In early March 2020, I was on a storytelling trip to El Salvador for Compassion. One minute we were loading the van to head to a child development center, the next we were packing our bags to rush to the airport — urgently called home as COVID-19, a seemingly distant threat, suddenly became very real.

Here are beautiful moments from the past year that represent prayers answered, lives changed and lessons learned. They show what is possible when together, we rise as one.

The impact of sponsors’ generosity on children multiplies far beyond their childhood years. Compassion centers at local churches offer them safe spaces to discover and lessons on how to steward their God-given talents. Access to resources and exposure to various activities, coupled with vocational and financial training, allow children to dream big — beyond their circumstances.

Check out these incredible stories of talented young entrepreneurs!

Luis Palau went to be with the Lord on March 11, 2021. He was 86 years old.

For more than 65 years, Palau preached, taught and wrote about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Originally from Argentina, Palau always had a big heart for the Spanish-speaking world. As the Lord blessed his ministry, he shared the clear Christian faith in 80 nations and to an estimated 1 billion people through his citywide festivals, television programs, radio programs and writings.

Many of the children in our program think about their sponsor as an extension of their family. Maybe you feel the same way about the child you sponsor. You know you want to pray for him or her daily and write letters often. And through those actions and your financial gifts, you’ll no doubt make a powerful impact on your sponsored child’s life. But … you feel the need to do more. You want to incorporate your sponsored child into your daily life as much as possible. The question is: How?

This International Women’s Day, we honor the strength of women around the world. They are mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts and daughters. And with their unshakeable faith in God, they are all warrior women.

As a sponsor during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been hard to lose the connection to my child in Colombia through our letters. I miss learning about his life and hearing him describe his day-to-day activities. Yet, as I reflect on our past letters, I realize they reveal a whole world of support that my child has hopefully been able to stay connected with during the pandemic!

Like most families with young children, my husband and I don’t have a ton of disposable income. There are always diapers to buy, groceries to replace or the unexpected medical bill or home repair to cover. So with the little money we do have at our discretion, we make sure to use it wisely. Intentionally.