Blown Away Twice

Many of you are my close friends and you already sponsor a child through some great organizations.  Some of you have gone on mission trips and some of you have even adopted children from other countries.  You simply amaze me. While others of you may have discussed the possibility of sponsoring a child at some point.  Our family sponsors a five year old boy from Ethiopia through Compassion International.  I am not writing this to impress you that we sponsor a child.  I am simply writing this to show how we have been blown away by the Lord twice.

We signed up to sponsor a child through Compassion about a year ago.  One afternoon I  sat down with the boys with the laptop on the couch.  We looked at various children from several countries and  would you believe they all agreed on a five year old boy from Ethiopia?   If you have a handful of kids, you know that was a miracle, no doubt.  Later that night, I discussed with my hubby whether we should make monthly payments or pay for a full year, which was around 450 dollars.  He said to send in the full amount which I did the next morning.   Later in the day, I received an email from my precious mother-in-law (aka. mother-in-love) stating that she wanted to send us 500 dollars to help with school supplies, clothes, and shoes for the upcoming school year.  I just cried.  I was blown away.  We had just sent money in the day before to help a child and now my mother in law was helping my children.  I felt hugged by the Lord and it was such a cool story to share with the boys.  By the way, we all know that when we give, we can't expect to be blessed in this lifetime.  For whatever reason, the Lord chose to bless us tangibly.

The next story from the past year involves the child that we sponsor.  We communicate with him through letters and photos.  We were told if we send additional money, it would go straight to the family.  We decided to send 100 dollars.  About two months later, we received a letter that shared the family bought metal.   I really didn't understand this.  Metal?  For what?  Then I dug a little deeper into the envelope and there was a picture of a metal roof.  For 100 dollars, we bought a roof for their family of eight.  I was blown away, as was the rest of my family.  It is simply amazing how far our money can go in other countries.

I write all of this to encourage you to pray about the possibility of sponsoring a child.  Maybe this year? Maybe next year?  Pray about it and the Lord will confirm if this is something your family should move forward with.  I can guarantee you will be blessed, maybe in this lifetime or maybe later.  We have been blessed time and time again this past year.  Hugs to you all.