There’s a new member of our family that I am so excited to introduce to you: Dorothy! No, you didn’t miss anything. In November, as part of Avelyn’s turning 6 she chose a little girl in Africa to sponsor through Compassion International. I often think that most people have heard of Compassion until I start talking about it and they look at me like I have 6 heads.
I’ve been familiar with Compassion for the past 5 or so years, and have really wanted to sponsor a child, but it just wasn’t feasible. We had wanted to do it at a point when our children can be involved in correspondence and can understand what it is and why we do it. This year Matthew decided it was the year. I can’t tell you how much my heart soared when he said those words!
Dorothy’s birthday is in the middle of February, and as I was talking to Avie about drawing a picture that we could send to her, she had mentioned something about dresses. I said that more than likely Dorothy only had 1 maybe 2 dresses to wear. Avelyn got a devastated look in her eyes and I asked what was wrong, “Mommy, could I send her some of my dresses?” I explained that we can’t mail her things like a dress, but we can pray and ask that God would provide for her through our sponsorship. {I love Avelyn’s heart for others!}
So what IS Compassion International?
The Everett Swanson Evangelistic Association was founded in 1952 by The Reverend Everett Swanson to help children orphaned by war in South Korea. He traveled there to preach the gospel to the troops of the army but during his visit he saw children orphaned by the war. In 1953, he began to raise funds and the next year he developed sponsorship programs to help support orphans for a few dollars a month.[4] The name of the association changed to Compassion in 1963, inspired by Jesus‘ words “I have compassion on the multitude. I will not send them away hungry” (Matthew 15.32).
-from Wikipedia
The whole premise of Compassion is to not just provide for the physical needs of a child, but also their spiritual needs. While they are given the opportunity to attend school, the blessing of safety and being provided for, they are also learning the most important truth…Jesus. They are being cared for not just temporally but eternally.
The thing I love about Compassion, besides all the wonderful things they do, is that this isn’t just about having your credit card auto-charged every month and forgetting about it, forgetting about a child. The wonderful thing is how Compassion encourages their sponsors to write to their child, to visit them {if possible}, to actually build a RELATIONSHIP with them. We try and email at least 2 letters a month to Dorothy. It’s so easy: They have a form you can fill out on the website and upload pictures to you and away it goes! That’s it!
At different conferences and events over the years I’ve had several opportunities to talk to the people manning the Compassion tables and they are always such a joy to spend time with. Just recently I was speaking to a grandmother who sponsored a child for each of her grandchildren, then takes the time with each of them to write their sponsored child. Her goal is to take each of her grandchildren to meet the child they sponsor. She’s already been to the jungles of South America with two of her grandchildren.
April 24th is Compassion Sunday, but you can sponsor a child any day, anywhere in the world through Compassion’s website at Compassion.com. They give you wonderful search options of countries, age, gender, and most importantly for children who have been waiting the longest {as Dorothy was}.
I know we all remember the over emotional commercials to sponsor a child through different organizations; that for just over a $1 a day you can give a child hope, but it’s true. For $1.25 a day you can give a child hope, you can give them a future, you can give them the food and things they need now, and you can share with them the love and Salvation that only Jesus can give.
