But it matters to him...

I recently finished reading the book, The Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. At the time, we sponsored two little girls through World Vision and I was excited to read the CEO's story.

The book is a well written, convicting and thought provoking book. What I loved about the book is that Richard doesn't "preach" his agenda, but he openly shares his story. Throughout the book, the reader learns how God lead him to his position at World Vision, despite his own resistance.

(I am not going to write much more about the content of the book because I have lent it out and don't want to misquote details. But I want to share the overall impact it had on me and the decision I made.)

I was reminded of the starfish story when I read it. While I can't fix global poverty, I can fix a small part. And that small part matters to at least one child. And that one child matters dearly to God.

When I finished the book, I walked into the kitchen and talked to my husband about sponsoring a little boy. We already sponsor two little girls, the ages of our girls. It has always been our plan to sponsor a child that shares a birthdate with each of our own children. We were just waiting until some budget issues worked out.

We discussed it for a little bit because we had just experienced a HUGE mortgage issue and the bank had increased our mortgage by 20% to cover for some mistakes in their math with our escrow account. He was rightfully concerned about how we were going to afford this and if this was the right timing. We certainly didn't want to go into any debt because we work at our budget so that we can live within our means.

But the one thing I was convinced of after reading this book was that "waiting a few months" to work out some finances meant flexiblity and security for us, but to a child somewhere in the world, it meant life.

We discussed it and decided to go ahead and sponsor a little boy. We were both confident that this was God's timing and He would work it out for our family. We could take on this financial commitment and rest in His provision to see it through.

Afterall, we know that He has called us to give generously, but all honesty, I wanted to wait a bit longer so we wouldn't "feel the impact" so much. Yet, I was confident that "feeling the impact" was EXACTLY where God wanted us to be. Because that is where HE shines!

So I headed upstairs to find a little boy who shares D's birthday. Turns out, there was a little boy in Guatemala born on Janurary 18, 2007 waiting for a sponsor and we signed on.

But while on the computer, I put in baby C's birthday, mainly out of curiousity. Suddenly on the screen appeared an adorable and HUGE little baby boy. HUGE for his age, just like my C. Without a doubt at that instant, I knew that we were meant to be his sponsors as well. So with tears in my eyes at the sight of his precious face, I clicked the sponsor button.

I came downstairs, in the midst of our mortgage crisis, having sponsored TWO little boys. Eric was in completely agreement with the choice, knowing it had always been the plan, and confident in God's ability to provide. We weren't sure how God was going to work it all out, but He did. We continue to have the money to pay the bills, and the mortgage crisis was "fixed" through a successful refinance.

About two months later, the outline of a precious little hand came in the mail...



I treasure that hand.

Our decision that day may not have changed the world for everyone. But it changed the world for one little boy in Brazil.