Trust Him

After reading my story of how God lead me to begin sponsoring through Compassion in the previous posts, certainly you realize that sponsorship is not easy for me. I do teach piano lessons now, and bring in some money from that, but it's not much. I still have to wonder how God is going to provide for me to sponsor both of those girls when the bill comes in every month. It takes a lot of trust, but let me tell you - my God is trustworthy!
Yesterday, I was making phone calls - canceling lessons for my piano students for a couple of upcoming days when I will be out of town. Not exactly a happy phone call when you're short on money. (Or love teaching piano as much as I do....) I was telling my mom afterward, "I guess God is reminding me that I still need to trust Him to provide for me to sponsor Jasmin and Ventinah instead of trusting in my own piano teaching to provide, because the first month that I would be bringing in enough from piano teaching to pay for sponsorship, I'm having to cancel lessons, so I *won't* be bringing in enough from that."
Then, a few hours ago, my mom realized that (to make a long story short) she hadn't paid me back some money that she owed me, which she and I had both totally forgotten about. It was almost exactly the amount I needed, in combination with my pay from the one piano student I had last month, to cover the cost of sponsoring Jasmin and Ventinah this month.
So I have one thing to say to you: If you know that God is leading you to sponsor a child, DO NOT let lack of money be an excuse! I believe I've quoted this before, but, "God doesn't ask if you've got the time. He doesn't ask if you've got the money. He doesn't ask if you've got the ability. He only asks if you're willing." If He leads you to sponsor a child, then He will provide, and you will be amazed at how much your faith increases as you constantly see Him provide for you to follow His Will.

"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
~ Philipians 4:19, HCSB

Get this widget!

Introduction

Hey guys... most of you know that I'm getting rid of my old Xanga blog, but I'm trying to preserve some of the posts on there by "featuring" one every few days on my new blog. Well, back in February, I participated in a "Compassion Blog Month," telling the story on my Xanga site of how the Lord led me to begin sponsoring through Compassion International in little bits throughout the month. Compassion is a very important ministry to me, and I wanted to highlight these posts more than the others, and keep them where they could be more available when I post more on my main blog - and I'm going to make this site public, so feel free to share it. Since I was writing them in a series, they were obviously in reverse order when I originally posted them. I fixed that when I posted them on here so you can read straight through. Enjoy! I pray that the Lord uses this site to lead other people to sponsor through Compassion International.

Compassion International: Episode 1

Hey everyone...
You've probably noticed the links for COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL all over my site lately. I mentioned before that it was something God had been leading me to, and I've meant to post explaining it more, so now I'm finally getting around to it. It's a good time to post about this I guess, since February is Compassion's "blog about Compassion month."
God has been leading me to get involved with Compassion for over a year and a half now, and I have just recently (In the past month) finally followed His leading to sponsor a child, so obviously this is going to be a long story, so despite my reputation for long posts, I'm going to split this up into several posts months throughout this month.

May 8th, 2006... don't ask me why I remember the date of it, but I do. That was the first real concert I ever went to. It was Todd Agnew and Big Daddy Weave along with Nate Sallie and Jason Morant. The concert was an awesome worship experience like I've never seen since then (Even after hearing Todd Agnew in concert a second time. Look way back toward the beginning of this site, and you'll find a whole long post about that concert). Big Daddy Weave was great, but by the time they finished their set, the auditorium was so hot and stuffy that I was starting to feel sick to my stomach. They'd been playing a little video between each of the artists, so I thought I'd go find some fresh air in a less crowded area of the church once Big Daddy Weave was done. But before I could get up, I became fascinated by the video on the powerpoint. It told of children in 3rd world countries, trapped in poverty, unable to receive the food and medical attention they needed. African children suffering from the terrors of AIDS. And it told of a program called World Vision that allowed Americans to provide for the children's desperate physical needs, while sharing the love of Jesus with them, by sponsoring a child. I was spellbound, and wished I could do something, but I didn't think there was anything I could do.

~~ TO BE CONTINUED

Compassion Episode 2

Sorry, I didn't mean to stop the last post as soon as I did, but I had to go set the table for dinner . So now I guess I just won't stop where I was planning on stopping. Okay, I'll quit rambling. I left you guys on a cliffhanger, LOL. So here's the next episode. One Wednsday night, before prayer meeting, my dad and an older man in my church were talking about when they'd been in the military - my dad in the Vietnam war and the other man in the Korean War. They were talking about the poverty of the ragged, emaciated children in those nations who were so hungry that they would run under the soldiers' feet for a scrap of bread crust. Their stories stunned me. I spent almost the entire prayer meeting asking God, "How can I help these kids? What is Your will? What can I do?" I remembered the concert several months before, or rather I remembered it in part. For some reason I was thinking it was Compassion that Todd Agnew talked about rather than World Vision (They are basically the same. Both use providing for children through sponsorship to tell the kids and their families about God's love for them. Apparently though, God wanted me to use Compassion, since that's what He made me think of) I quickly grasped the idea, and kept thinking about sponsoring a child and supporting Compassion "Later". At some other time when I'm an adult. God quickly convicted me of that, and showed me that He wanted me to do something now. He reminded me of a Sportsman's Banquet outreach my church had been involved again shortly before. I had won a very expensive hunting bow as a door prize, but there was only two problems with it. 1) It was so heavy that I couldn't pull back the string on it. 2) I don't hunt. I thought of the amount people had told me that bow was worth. Later, I added up the cost of sponsoring a child for a year through Compassion. $32 a month X 12. $384 dollars for one year. The sale of the bow would be more than enough. I didn't tell anyone about this yet, only prayed and asked God to show me that this was really His will. Several days later, I saw my mom looking at Compassion's website on the computer. Needless to say, I was surprised. I still hadn't told anyone about God leading me to sponsor a child, my mom hadn't been in on the conversation that Wednsday night, and no one had so much as mentioned Compassion at my house that I remembered. I knew this had to be God showing me that it was really was His will for me to sponsor a child. ~~To be continued... I have to leave for the same reason I did last time

Compassion Episode 3

By the way, if you have not been reading these all along as I post them, please start at the very first Compassion post (2 posts ago) and read them in order. Thanks! My mom didn't sponsor a child that day, and neither did I. In fact, the next mention of Compassion International in my family was when Joset and my mom and I went to a Bebo Norman, Aaron Shust, and Brandon Heath concert several weeks later; Bebo and Aaron were both talking about Compassion. I don't remember if I posted about that concert then or not, but I'd like to park right here for this post. The concert was not the best I've ever attended, because it wasn't as much of a worship service as other concerts I've been to, (it was when Aaron Shust was singing, but not really the rest of the time) but it was a major influence in my decision to sponsor a child through Compassion. First, Aaron Shust was talking about a trip he had recently taken with Compassion International to visit his sponsored child in Africa. He told about how they were sitting outside this little boy's house, acctually a mud hut made out of - I hope you aren't eating as you read this - manure. I'm not kidding. That is the impoverished position some of these kids are in. So they were just sitting there talking - Aaron and the other people who were with him on the trip, the Compassion workers/translators, the sponsored child, and all of this little boy's large family. They were just sitting there talking, when suddenly Aaron Shust asked them what was one thing they really needed. There was a long silence. They waited. And waited. The boy's father appeared to be thinking. They waited more. It was beginning to get uncomfortable. They waited. And waited. Finally, the old man looked up. "See that pear tree over there? That's where we get our food. See that goat over there? That's where we get our milk. See that stream over there? That's where we get our water," the old man continued, "and now that we know about Jesus through my son being in Compassion, we have all we need." (Okay, that was the basic idea of the story, I can't remember exactly, since that was like a year and a half ago. Anway, I g2g now... Set the table... go figure, LOL! More about that concert in the next post!)

Compassion Episode 4

Okay, the saga of God leading me to serve Him through Compassion's ministry continues. Why couldn't I have just listened the first time and not waited over a year and a half?
So, we're still at that Bebo Norman and Aaron Shust concert. After Aaron Shust had finished singing, Bebo Norman came onstage and began talking about Compassion. I don't remember exactly what he said during his presentation about Compassion, but I do remember what he said right at the end, right before he stopped for an intermission. He encouraged everyone to stop by Compassion's table in the back, and said (basically), "I know some of you are probably trying to decide between buying a CD and sponsoring a child. Please, if that's it, I don't want you to buy one of my CDs"... then he said that to make sure no one did, he would give a free copy of his latest CD to anyone who sponsored a child that night. You have to understand that the sale of CDs is how artists make their living, and there was probably a LOT of people that sponsored children that night. It was a sacrifice. The audience, of course, went wild at this announcement, but Bebo immediately quieted everyone saying (again, I don't remember exactly) "Please, stop. It's not some great thing, it's just my heart."
During the intermission was the first time I told my mom about God leading me to sponsor a child. Unfortunately though, I had stalled and still hadn't sold my bow. Shortly afterward, we returned to our seats, several minutes before the concert started again. Suddenly, I heard the lady in the seat behind me asking, "Did you get a CD?" I assumed she was talking to the person next to her, and wondered why no one answered. Then she asked again, "Did you get a CD?" This time, I turned around and looked, surprised to see that no one was next to her. Again she asked, "Did you get a CD?" "Are you talking to me?" I asked doubtfully, after all, I'd never even seen this woman before. "Yes," she said, pulling a copy of Bebo Norman's newest CD from her purse, "Did you get a CD?" "Uh, no, I didn't..." "Well, here, I got the free one, but I'd already gotten one," "Are you sure?" I couldn't imagine that she was giving this to a total stranger; it seemed like she could have found a friend or family member to give the extra copy to as a gift. Maybe it was the Lord's leading. I felt Him telling me, "Okay, Christi, now you've got the CD - the gift that was supposed to be for sponsoring a child - now do what you were supposed to have done to get that free CD, and what I've been telling you all along was My Will,"
I never caught that lady's name, and I never saw her again after that, but I'd like to say a big thank-you to her for the way she blessed me, and probably without knowing it, encouraged me to follow God's leading.

Be My Covering - By Bebo Norman (A Christian Singer and Compassion Advocate)

The sun gives to a darkened sky
Blood red are the tears we cry
So far from Your design
Oh God, hear me tonight

Though the waters rise
They will not pull me under
When the mountain slides
And crashes to the sea
I will lift my eyes
And call out to You Father
Be my covering

War-torn are the rags of every nation
Fear lives in the heart of every home
Louder than the groans of creation
O, my God, be the voice of hope

Though the waters rise
They will not pull me under
When the mountain slides
And crashes to the sea
I will lift my eyes
And call out to You Father
Be my covering

Words and music by Bebo Norman and Jason Ingram
© 2006 Appstreet Music/ New Spring. All rights reserved.

Right now I'm going to take a break from my story and stop on one of the songs from that CD I received in the last post. (As I said before, read these posts in chronological order... which means starting at the bottom and working your way up) The verses to this song, called "Be My Covering," could so easily be heard in the cry of the children in the nations where Compassion works. They are suffering. From lack of food, shelter, and clean water, inability to get an education, and more importantly because they do not have the love of God in their lives. Many of these children have never even heard the name of Jesus, let alone of His love for them. Yet through the provision of Compassion International's sponsors, they are seeing their physical needs met - as well as their spiritual needs. They can see God's love for them through the love showed to them by another child of God - their sponsor, a person who cares about them because Jesus cares for them, although they live in totally different parts of the globe and may never have met each other. It is in seeing Jesus' love for them in this way that many children in Compassion-assisted countries will begin to see that even when, "The sun gives to a darkened sky/blood red are the tears we cry// war-torn are the rags of every nation/ fear lives in the heart of every man," Their loving Father will be their refuge so that they can say with confidence in their Savior, "Though the waters rise
They will not pull me under/When the mountain slides/And crashes to the sea/I will lift my eyes/And call out to You Father/Be my covering"

Compassion Episode 5

My family sponsored a little girl named Nathaly soon after the concert. Unforunately, Nathaly moved to an area that Compassion didn't work in before any of us even had a chance to write to her. My mom had Compassion send us the name of another girl in the same age group who spoke Spanish and needed a sponsor (Spanish since me and Joset are learning it, so we could write to her in her own language). So we began sponsoring a precious 8-year-old Bolivian girl named Virginia.

By this time, I had no excuse. I wrote letters to Virginia, but I knew that God wanted me to sponsor a child on my own. For over a year, I just kept putting it off. I don't know why, I just did, and I felt really guilty about it. We went to another Todd Agnew concert during that time, and of course he was talking about World Vision again. I was interested, of course, as he talked about the impoverished kids that needed sponsors, but nothing said there was earth-shattering for me. I already knew that God was leading me to sponsor a child. I knew, and I wanted to, but somehow I kept fighting it. Procrastinating. I left that concert with fresh determination to sponsor a child... then came home and forgot about it.

It was not until about 3-4 months later that finally I followed God's leading to sponsor a child. I'll explain what happened in the next post