Sponsor Sunday

I sponsor three children through Compassion International which has changed my life. Through Compassion I can see poverty first hand and I can help the least of these as God has called me to do. With the help of Compassion; I can change the life of one child, I can gain a friend, a pen-pal. Compassion has a special program called correspondence where you can just write to a child and someone else pays for the sponsorship. A couple of weeks ago I lost my best writer who was a correspondence child. His mother pulled him out of the program so there is still hope that he could come back. I love the little boy so much. The last letter I received was the  first one he had written himself and he wrote a second page. That is good for a seven year old.


This month Compassion set-up a website for sponsor to find one child a sponsor. You can view my page here. I feel a strong responsibility to find this precious boy a sponsor. You can also see how I started sponsoring through Compassion International.
 
Isaiah 58:7

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness

Or  your righteous One

will go before you,

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Psalm 73 and sermon

My pastor's sermon was on Psalm 73 the song of Asaph and he took the direction that bad guy seem to prosper and escape punishment while the righteous man suffers and only has enough to survive. His sermon had so much to do with the tragedy. It was not about it but paralleled it. I found the sermon to very impactful. You should read the Psalm. I use You Version which is wonderful. Also I apologize that my posts are vague but I do not cause people to suffer from graphic detail.

A psalm of Asaph.

1Surely God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

2But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;

I had nearly lost my foothold.

3For I envied the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4They have no struggles;

their bodies are healthy and strong.

With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text struggles at their death;

their bodies are healthy

5They are free from common human burdens;

they are not plagued by human ills.

6Therefore pride is their necklace;

they clothe themselves with violence.

7From their callous hearts comes iniquity

Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew Their eyes bulge with fat

their evil imaginations have no limits.

8They scoff, and speak with malice;

with arrogance they threaten oppression.

9Their mouths lay claim to heaven,

and their tongues take possession of the earth.

10Therefore their people turn to them

and drink up waters in abundance.

The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.

11They say, “How would God know?

Does the Most High know anything?”

12This is what the wicked are like—

always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure

and have washed my hands in innocence.

14All day long I have been afflicted,

and every morning brings new punishments.

15If I had spoken out like that,

I would have betrayed your children.

16When I tried to understand all this,

it troubled me deeply

17till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

18Surely you place them on slippery ground;

you cast them down to ruin.

19How suddenly are they destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors!

20They are like a dream when one awakes;

when you arise, Lord,

you will despise them as fantasies.

21When my heart was grieved

and my spirit embittered,

22I was senseless and ignorant;

I was a brute beast before you.

23Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

24You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

25Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

27Those who are far from you will perish;

you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

28But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;

I will tell of all your deeds.

A lot has happened emotionally to me this weekend. There was a crime that happened not all that far from me. I cannot even describe it because I will cry if I try. But a lady died the same way my brother died two days before the anniversary of his death. The only thing I could do was pray. Pray for her young daughter who was there. Pray that God allowed justice to be served here on earth. Pray that I did not hide behind a locked door for the rest of my life. But if you pray please lift this little girl up because watching her mom die was not the only thing that happened.

God's gentle hand

So I have not been posting but writing personal post that I have not published because I cannot go into depth on a lot of the stuff I am dealing with. Lately God has been teaching me to trust and live in the moment. My family lives each day knowing that one in particular might be taken away, not out of this world but to another family because he is a foster child. I find it excruciating painful to keep from shutting him out so I will not have to suffer in the long run. God brought peace to my heart and I am once again learning to trust God no matter the out come.

Now I am struggling with the loss of my youngest Compassion child. He is seven and his birthday is in July so I was looking forward to sending him a card soon. I got back from vacation and Compassion had left me a message saying that his mother pulled him out of the program. I was very hurt. After all I sent him more letters than my other Compassion kids because he sent me so many letters. His last letter was the first one he had written by himself. I pray that God will change his mother's heart because I really don't want to loose the little boy that I was growing close to.