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Compassion International

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Lindsay

As mentioned in a previous post, both Aaron and I feel very strongly about giving. It is so important to give to others out of the blessings you have received. Every day I go to work I thank God for my job and for providing so well for me when others aren’t fortunate enough to have a job to go to every day. I know it sounds strange because it’s natural to complain about work, but I choose to see it as a blessing instead. Because I feel like I am blessed with this job, I want to bless others as well. I decided when I took this job that 10% of my pay would be taken out so that I could put that money towards things that I feel strongly about. If I would break that money up into 4 weeks within a month my giving would be as follows: Two weeks worth goes towards my church, one weeks worth goes towards Compassion International, and the last week goes towards a nice deed. For me that “nice deed” could be any range of things, from giving a gift to my barista at Starbucks to giving to our local food bank. It varies month to month.

What I want to focus on though, is Compassion International. I think this is a wonderful mission and I especially feel led to give because I feel so strongly for children. I’ve always had a passion for kids and it’s so sad to see the conditions that children are living in all around the world. Compassion helps to relieve that problem. They are a Christian organization that allows people to sponsor children from around the world who live in impoverished conditions. It’s only $32 dollars a month and that amount goes directly to your child to help pay for: medical costs, education, clean water, and important life-skills training.
What I really like about this organization as opposed to others is that it’s not just me sending money to some people I don’t know. They try to make it as personal as possible. When you go to their website you can read all about their mission statement and what your money will be used for. You can also pick the child that you want to sponsor. They have all the children that are in their program online so you can chose to search by location, age, gender, or how long they’ve been in the program. (I personally didn’t have anything in particular in mind so I chose a little girl who had been unsponsored for an extended period of time.) Also, what is great, is that you can write letters and send a picture of yourself to the child as well. You fill out a little form that they give you and mail it in. It will take a while to get a response being that it needs to be translated both ways first and depending on where the child lives, mail may not go there regularly. You should however receive at least three correspondences throughout the year. And, if you feel led you may also visit the child. Compassion takes a group of people on tours every so often which gives sponsors the opportunity to visit the child if they wish.
I encourage you to at least check out the website and see if it would be something you would be interested in. It’s a wonderful opportunity to change a child’s life and show them love when they may otherwise feel hopeless.
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Do You Give?

Posted on December 15, 2008 by admin

New Delhi Family
Image by Stuck in Customs via Flickr

Lindsay and I are firm believers that we need to give (return). And we do this by with holding 10% of each pay and keeping it set aside to drop in the offering plate on Sunday, buy food for a food drive, get blankets for a family that needs them, or send it to an organization whose purpose we believe in. We do this willingly and I strongly encourage you to do the same.

Why, you ask? Well to be perfectly honest, the money you have is not REALLY yours anyways, so in a sense you are actually RETURNING it when you give it to someone else. The money you earn is given to you, so you then need to give; 10% is a good place to start, and start now. Give of your money and know that you are helping those who need to be helped, and you are touching people that you would not otherwise touch. This is  a good and healthy thing for you to do.

The money is not yours. Get that attitude now and you will GLADLY give and will WANT to give because you will learn what the power of GIVING is.

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