Speaking of His ways (which certainly aren't my ways), I would ask that you pray for me in a particular area that the Lord is fully aware of, so I won't go into further detail. If you could just lift me up in prayer to the Father, I'd appreciate it.
Again, thank you for joining me on this journalistic journey of mine. I am greatly appreciative!
Original publication date: Friday, June 19, 2015
Random Writer
Happy birthday "Little Kim"
My Sunday was going to be crazy-busy, I knew that. If not, then there wouldn’t be any other reason in the world why I would be awake at 5:30 a.m.
With the help of my mother and sister, we’d be facilitating a luncheon and dessert auction at church which would raise money for our teenagers to go to church camp. And we didn’t do it alone. I believe in working for what you want, so the refilling of drinks and taking up trash and “playing Vanna White”--showing off each dessert before the bidding--would be the job of the teens. But the cooking and preparing and all of that kitchen stuff was our job...like baking 90 potatoes starting at 7 a.m. All of this...obviously with the help of Jesus at our side.
But before the craziness began, I found myself staring at the mirror. Not to give myself a pep talk to prepare for the long day ahead, and not to make sure that my hair looked halfway decent. But slid in between the mirror itself and its decorative frame is a photo of a little girl whose birthday happened to fall on Sunday. She was turning four years old, and I asked the Lord to give her a great day from half a world away.
No, she’s not my daughter. I don’t have kids of my own; I’m not married. But I entered her life in late January through Compassion International, a global organization that allows people to sponsor children who suffer from poverty.
I first became aware of “Little Kim” at the women’s conference I attended with a group from church. In the guest bag were tons of papers about the conference and the speakers and the list of door prizes (that no one from our church would win!...), but also there was a little packet from Compassion International. They had already taken on the task of giving every single lady who attended a packet that showed a picture of a child in a country devastated by poverty.
“Well that’s not right,” I remember thinking. “It’s almost like they’re guilt-tripping you to participate.”
Before the first night ended, a Compassion representative spoke to the crowd of ladies. He told of his personal involvement in Compassion, and how he actually ended up adopting the child he sponsored who lived in India. But he also told the crowd about one of his trips where a sponsor had the opportunity to travel across the globe to meet the child he had sponsored for years, who was already a teenager almost out of the system. He showed the video recapping the trip, and if it wasn’t already an emotional story, the waterworks began for me when the young man showed his sponsor a little hiding spot in his family’s hut where all of the letters he’d ever received had been placed.
If their plan was to guilt-trip me, well...that video was doing its job. But when the Compassion representative told the crowd that there was a place to turn in the packets if we couldn’t sponsor the child, something within me couldn’t do it. I held onto it that night and told my roommates that I was undecided. I’d love to help that little girl in the picture in my packet, but it was a financial risk that I didn’t know if I could take based on the monthly sponsorship versus my salary and bills.
Before I fell asleep that night, I asked God for wisdom on what to do. But upon waking up the next morning, I was still undecided.
“This shouldn’t be this hard of a decision,” I thought.
Another announcement was made to turn in the “unused” packets. I sent a whole slew of texts to my mother--what do I do? do you think I can afford it? what if I can’t afford it after awhile?--and in typical fashion, my mom told me to do what God was leading me to do. And in my heart of hearts, if God had burdened my heart about it this much, then it was something He really wanted me to do.
I headed to the Compassion booth and filled out my card. I opted for the chance to be billed after being placed in the system, and they also gifted me with a necklace made by children in the Compassion system. I also texted my mom and told her, “Congratulations...you now have a ‘granddaughter’.”
I think God used this lesson to teach me to step out in faith. He would provide the funds to sponsor Little Kim each month. He would guide my steps in making wise financial decisions. But I think He also wanted to remind me that this world isn’t about me. The globe doesn’t revolve solely around Belinda but around all His children, and He needed to remind me that a little three-year-old girl in Africa needed someone to help her make her way in the world.
Since the sponsorship began, Little Kim and her family have sent me a couple of letters. The first one was an introduction that told me about her siblings and what she likes to do. Some of the facts, however, moved me to tears. Her toys are rocks, which was mentioned in the first letter, and the letter I received this week said she sleeps on a mat inside her house with a mud floor.
I thank God that He put this little girl in my path to be used by Him to make a difference in her life. The sponsorship, now that she’s four, will go in part toward her schooling. One email I received from Compassion even said that as she learns more, she would be able to actually write to me, and I’m so excited over that!
It’s amazing that while being able to be a blessing in the life of a child half a world away, He uses Little Kim to be a blessing to me. If you’re not part of a program like Compassion International or Feed the Children or World Vision, I would encourage you to prayerfully consider doing so.
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