The Power of Words and Actions

In 2010, through our partnership with Dayspring, we delivered hundreds of Christmas cards to unsponsored children in Ecuador. Your participation made the campaign a success and brought joy to countless children that Christmas. But the story didn’t end once the cards were delivered.

Recently, DaySpring touched the hearts of women around the world through an online conference called (in)RL – short for “in real life.” It was an event that connected thousands of women through a day of worldwide meetups and webcasts on the topic of community.

One of the stories Dayspring shared was about, well…you. You and your desire to bless children in Ecuador. You, who understand the encouragement words in a card bring to children living in poverty. Take a look…

And there is more to this story.

One of the volunteers at our Global Ministry Center, Angela Dodge, led a group of women in Colorado Springs to write 160 cards. Here is her story.

At the start of a new Beth Moore study, James: Mercy Triumphs, the bible study coordinator at my church challenged the group leaders to come up with a service project for their small groups to participate in. The challenge was to be in line with the theme of the book of James—helping widows and orphans and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

As a small group leader, I prayed with my co-leader about what this would look like for a group of overwhelmingly busy moms who were already stretching their schedules by committing to the study. I knew it would be too much to them to give up more family time or for an additional project.

After more prayer, I presented two ideas to our group—supporting Compassion’s new clean water system, Water of Life, and writing cards to children who wouldn’t otherwise receive a personal card of love and encouragement at Christmas.

My group embraced both ideas with excitement and anticipation. Not only were these service opportunities amazing ways to reach children, widows, and families in need, but they were two very EASY ways for busy moms to serve!

This inspired and determined group of women threw themselves into the letter writing, enlisting their children in the process by having them draw pictures and including stickers and bookmarks in each card. Each woman also prayed with their families about the water filter systems.

At the end of the seven week project, this small group of women had raised enough money to purchase 27 filters and had written 160 Christmas cards.

There are probably hundreds of women’s groups that meet each fall, spring, and summer for bible studies, and with a little extra time and effort, they could translate their faith into action in a similar way.

“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” – James 2:17 (NIV)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Angela Dodge is a Compassion sponsor. She volunteers for the ministry by leading tours of the Global Ministry Center.

*Video courtesy of (in)courage.

The (in)RL DVD and Study Booklet Set include many more stories like these of women who have stepped out of their comfort zones to connect with their global neighbors.