Serendipity, happenstance, chance meeting, fate, it was meant to be — a wholly unique moment when you meet someone so special that you just know something bigger is at work.
You’re so astonished at how it came to be that you start analyzing every little detail and decision that culminated in bringing this person into your life. You begin saying things like, “If only I had done this or that, then we never would have met. What are the odds?”
A Series of Fortunate Events
My friend Ben Steed — who works for our friends at Heartlight — recently told me of one such moment.
As part of a trip to Ecuador in 2010, Ben visited the home of Monica, a mother in our Child Survival Program. She shared about how the program had lifted a burden in her life by helping her and her 18-month-old, Edison Ivan, who had been chronically ill.
Ben, with a son the same age, has never forgotten the impact of that moment on his life and his perspective on extreme poverty.
Fast-forward a few years. The Compassion Experience visited his town. He and his wife decided to take their daughter and son so they could experience what the life of a child in the developing world is really like.
At the Compassion Experience Ben’s family decided to sponsor a child the same age as their 3-year-old son so he could grow up knowing the value of sponsorship and friendship with someone his age across the world. And remembering his experience in 2010, Ben had a special place his heart for Ecuador, so that seemed the right place to look.
They went home, logged on to Compassion.com, and searched for a boy in Ecuador between 3 and 5 years old.
And there was only one result.
One.
Edison Ivan.
Ben and his wife knew. They just knew they were meant to sponsor Edison.
From Top: Edison’s mom, Sally and their home; Edison at 18 months old; Edison, now at 5 years old
What are the odds?
When Ben shared his story, my heart sped up a little and I got chills.
There are literally dozens of ways you can meet one of the awesome little ones in our program.
It might be at your church, school, or a For King and Country concert. It could be on our website, at the Compassion Experience, or through a blog you follow.
But here’s the thing: The child you meet is available to sponsor only through that one place at that one moment. Because we don’t want someone to fall in love with a child at an event, where they hold his or her story in their hands, only to find out that someone else met the child online and sponsored him or her just moments before. That kiddo is available in only one place at one time.
Not only that, but we have 13 other offices, in other countries, with children available for sponsorship. So a child available to sponsor in the United States isn’t available anywhere else.
You see where I’m going with this?
Our process does change from time to time in order to make sure we’re taking care of children in the most effective way possible. But here’s a look at some actual numbers from spring of this year:
- There were 204,478 children available for sponsorship.
- 8,894 were in Ecuador.
- 6,489 of those were available to be sponsored by someone in the U.S.
- On average, there are probably 200-250 children in Ecuador available on our website at any one time.
- 120-150 of those children are boys.
- Approximately 40-50 are between the ages of 3 and 5.
But not on that day in 2012. That day, there was only one.
One who wasn’t available in another country or at another event. One who might not have been there if Monica had never enrolled Edison in our Child Sponsorship Program when he turned 3 years old … or if Ben’s family had looked on a different day … or if the Compassion Experience had not come to his town …
It goes on and on.
Here’s the thing: At the end of the day, I don’t care about odds. I don’t care about what-ifs. I care that we serve a God of miracles.
Sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence … until it’s not.
How did you meet that special child or young adult whom you sponsor? Do you have a story like Ben’s of how you just knew? Share your story in the comments below.
Read all about how Ben first met Edison Ivan at Heartlight.
And then read about their reunion!
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In February of last year I was thinking of sponsoring just one more child (we already had several.) My husband and I have three adult children but no grandchildren, so sponsoring beautiful children around the globe fills a need for me.I was looking for an older child and decided to look in Central America this time. One child stood out amongst all the rest – he had red hair and his middle name was Matias (Matthew.) I knew immediately that I was meant to sponsor him! You see, my youngest son is named Matthew and he is the only redhead in our family of brunettes. (He gets his recessive hair color from his great-grandmothers.) It had to be a match made in heaven, and I pray that the Lord will use this special child to do wonderful things for the kingdom.
We were volunteering at a Compassion event. I was feeling a little distracted though, because in the middle of the night we had received a text from my oldest daughter Stephanie that her best friend (who was like a son to me) had tested HIV-positive. I suggested to my youngest, who was working the event as well, that maybe we should pick up another sponsored child, from an AIDS area, in honor of Stephanie’s friend. I asked her to look at the packets on display and see whether there were any in an AIDS area that were also priority because of waiting for a long time. There was one: Little 6-year-old Aman in Ethiopia was not only in an AIDS area, marked “high priority” for having waited a long time for a sponsor… he has the *same birthday* as Stephanie! Needless to say, we sponsored him on the spot!
The next event we worked, I noticed 2 packets of identical-looking girls with the same last name and the same birthday–Twins! I’d never seen twin packets before, and commented, “wouldn’t it be cool if they got sponsored by the same person?” Within half an hour, two girls came up to our table and asked whether we had any twins. Their mom had said they could each choose a child to sponsor, and they thought it would be neat if they were twins. (Cue mysterious theme music here)
Sometimes I think God likes to show off that he knows our hearts before we do! 🙂
Julie, these stories made my heart race. We serve such a personal God who loves to show us he knows us, and these precious children, intimately and personally. He is so good! 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
In 2014 I was blessed to become a correspondent sponsor (a person who writes on behalf of a financial sponsor) of an 8 year old girl named Kannika who lives in Thailand. Through letters and prayers and her tutor, Kannika accepted Jesus as saviour. My heart was broken when I learned that her financial sponsor was unable to continue; however, the Lord provided the means and opportunity for me to become her financial sponsor and continue our relationship. I am in awe with how God’s timing is so perfect!
About 8 years ago we had 4 young children. A girl and three boys. We decided to sponsor a child through Compassion. When we logged on the website we immediately saw a girl named Hana, the same name as our daughter’s with birthdays only 8 days apart. Ever since then our daughter wanted nothing more than to meet our Hana in Ethiopia. We began to set aside money so that maybe someday we could take our kids, meet our Compassion child and learn what it is like in the rest of the world. We almost gave up on that, but God had other plans. My husband and I traveled to Ethiopia four years ago and two years ago when we adopted a daughter from Ethiopia our oldest two children came with us and we were able to meet our Ethiopian Hana and her mother. It was so amazing to watch our girls play together! Now we are waiting to bring home a second child and hope to bring all of our kids with us to experience this amazing country and people that have become a part of our life as a result of sponsoring a Compassion child!
My Grammy’s name was Rosa. I always wanted to have a little girl of my own and name her Rosa. Though greatly blessed by my son, no girl ever came along to share our home. When Erick, my sponsored child in El Salvador graduated I decided to choose a girl this time around. A precious girl with the name Rosa immediately caught my attention. As I read her details I knew without a doubt she was the child God planned for me to sponsor. Not only did she share my Grammy’s name, she also shares my Mom’s birthday!
This is so cool! I love this story. God is so good and His timing is just amazing!