That isn't me!

If someone had told me a few years ago that Roland and I would be sponsoring a child through Compassion International, that we would get so excited to receive a letter from that child that it was almost like Christmas, and that I would be sitting in front of the Compassion website, looking through the pictures of children who still need sponsors and then just start crying, I would have said to that person...

"that isn't me"

"it's just a letter"

"I'm sorry they have to live like that, but..."

"it's just a letter"

"I care, but..."

"it's just a letter"

"I feel for them, but there's nothing I can do"

"it's just a letter"

It's just a letter. It isn't 'just a letter'. It's a box full of encouragement, hope, love, sharing faith, stories, pictures, questions and answers, learning, laughing, giggling (we are girls, after all!), and smiles. It's much more than just a letter. It's building a relationship with a child on the other side of the world who still has a chance through our sponsorship, to have enough to eat, clothes to wear, encouragement to do well in school, and most important of all, to know Jesus.

"That isn't me". Well, it was me, I'll admit it. But, fast forward to 2011 when we felt led to sponsor a little girl named Beatriz, who lives in Brazil and doesn't have much in the way of material things. Now here it is 2012, and we've had a year of sponsorship under our belt, and oh how much joy we feel when we see that cream colored envelope in our mailbox! That was me, but certainly not now.

Not now.

In His grace,

Sharon