Recently I was reminded of how the Lord can take the straw of our very imperfect efforts and spin it into kingdom gold. A child we had sponsored years ago reached out and contacted me through social media. My family has been sponsoring children through Compassion for many years. Compassion is a great organization and does fantastic work, addressing spiritual, emotional, and relational needs of children, in addition to their material needs.
Although we have always been faithful with our financial support of the children we sponsor, we have not always been faithful in prayer and supporting the children relationally by corresponding with. When you sponsor a child through Compassion you are the one and only sponsor that child has. Since Compassion works through local churches the children had other Christian adults sewing into their lives but the children especially value hearing from their sponsors.
Ten years ago we began sponsoring a college student in Thailand through the Leadership Development Program.1 Our LDP student in Thailand was just beginning her time at the university and we were able to support her for three years, until she graduated. As with the school-age children we sponsored, we weren’t the best sponsors, but God took our imperfect works of straw and spun them into Kingdom gold. He combined our efforts with whoever her through her previous sponsors, her local church, the Compassion workers in Thailand, and His own power to produce a very good end indeed.
Our former LDP student recently contacted me via social media: she is now working in Christian ministry in Thailand and as I write this she has travelled with Compassion from Thailand to Australia where she is visiting churches to share her testimony about how God has worked in her life. I am very proud of the small part we were able to play.
Her story reminds me of how God takes our most ineffective actions, whether we are seeking to do kingdom work or just to know him better and hear his voice, and spins our straw into gold. We don’t have to wait until we are good enough or have it all sorted out. We just have to start. He is there to meet us WAY more than half way, if we just take even the first halting steps.
1. The Leadership Development Program, which allowed us to sponsor a child in college no longer exists, but Compassion does have Youth Development Fund.↩
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From Pops' Workshop 