Compassion Knows No Boundaries

There is a book I want to read called, “Love has a Face.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFDSSUyeBm0 about a woman dedicated to serving orphaned children living in poverty in Uganda.

For most of my life, I’ve felt God touching my heart to be a part of helping those in need. From teaching deaf and hearing impaired children in the schools, to working as a therapist at a mental health facility, to talking with young women at a crisis pregnancy center, to financially helping/being a friend to those in in poverty stricken countries across the world…..God has prompted me to care and have compassion for His children.  

It’s hard for me to believe, but it’s been almost 9 years that our family felt the call to sponsor Christopher through Compassion International.  http://www.compassion.com/  Christopher lives in Uganda and is less than 1 month older than my son.  (at the time we began sponsoring him, they were both 8 years old) It’s been such an amazing journey.

  Pictures of Christopher growing up and pictures he drew and sent to us.....

Not only have we prayed for and helped him and his family, but we have gained a love relationship with him through the exchange of letters and pictures. We have learned about the culture and daily life of the people of Uganda. We have heard how God blessed them with much needed livestock, food, and clothing. We heard the excitement in his letters, when he was able to get a new suit and new shoes, a new bike, and a small toy for his birthdays.

He has told us how God provides a Christian education in his small school and how he was encouraged, in spite of his mother dying when he was just a young teen.  In the pictures we received, we’ve seen him grow from a child to a (very tall) young man. Now, at 19, he will soon finish his schooling and is not sure what he will be doing with his life. He currently helps take care of his family and home….he has 4 brothers and sisters. Life is not easy for him and his family. We pray and write and encourage him to “keep on trusting”.  

 This is one of the many letters we received from Christopher.(He always addressed them to Tyler, who was officially his sponsor and he felt he could relate to Tyler because they were the same age).

Even though we are on opposite sides of the world, he is always in our hearts and thoughts…..sometime I try to imagine what it would be like to walk beside him throughout the day, to understand what his life is like.  Maybe someday we will have the opportunity to actually meet him in person, but if not, I know we will meet in heaven. What an encouragement that is!!!

Here is the most recent picture and information we received about Christopher:

No matter where we are or what God calls us to do, we all are called to have compassion, for compassion has no boundaries, no limits, no distance, or time. I would highly encourage anyone to sponsor a child from another country.  Not only will you gain a love relationship with people from another culture, but the emotional rewards are endless.  If you can’t sponsor someone, at least reach out locally to the homeless, jobless, or hurting in your own community. Compassion is truly without boundaries.

Here is a great testimony of the compassion of a writer I have talked about before and have great regard for. She actually talks about a close-up account with a young man in Ecuador:

“How do you abandon a child to poverty when you’ve looked right into the begging whites of his eyes?” Ann Voskamp  

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2011/11/when-compassion-becomes-a-gold-rush/

… be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.  Luke 6:36

 

In His Love, 

Ann