When God Breathes on Your Dream

I love when God takes your little dream and breathes on it, making it something far more than you ever visualized!  Tomorrow is this huge, awesome kids' event at Hovander Park put on by Child Evangelism Fellowship, and sponsored by a number of churches and Christian ministries in the county.  Last year there were over 2,000 kids... this year over 3,000 are expected~~!!!  I work at Family Christian, and our store donated a bunch of items for prizes for kids... dvd's and books.  But the part that I am most excited about is that we will be having a World Vision table there for child sponsorship!  I'm so thrilled for this wonderful opportunity to present our kids who need sponsors to the community...  we even ordered a bunch of extra packets, and are taking all the packets from our store and the Bellingham store (except 2 each) because we're dreaming big!   

This delightful coloring page of Jesus playing tag is my favorite one showing Jesus with children, and is one that I colored for Samaika, one of my own sponsored children.  I wanted to provide copies for kids at this special event to color to send to their sponsored child, no matter which organization they sponsor with.  So I had the idea to ask several local business owners if they would be willing to donate printing for some copies.  Went first to Ace Hardware just a few doors down from us, and presented the opportunity to the owner, and asked if he would be willing to donate the printing for some copies of the coloring page.

"Sure!  How many copies would you like!"

Well, my faith level was at about 30-40 copies/store to donate, but I just said, "However many you feel comfortable donating."

"Okay, how about a couple hundred then."

Wow!  I was so blown away, and of course delighted!!  Took that stack of copies back to the store, much to the amazement of my manager.  Then I headed over to the local printing business, The Print Stop, and presented the opportunity to the owner there who immediately said "Sure!  How many would you like?"  Again I said whatever he was comfortable donating, and he looked at the clock to see how much time there was left to run off copies before closing, and I ended up leaving both places with a total of 1,700 copies in hand!!!!  WOW.

This makes me all the more excited about tomorrow.  I have a dream of seeing at least 10 children sponsored, but we're bringing about 50 packets... so now I'm wondering, what about 25?  or what about all of them?  I think God just might be breathing on that dream to make it come alive more than I think possible... again.

Breathe on Your people, Lord, and fill them not only with love and compassion for the children who need sponsors, but with confident courage to go above and beyond what they "feel comfortable" doing to trust You to do exceedingly abundantly in providing for each ones sponsorship needs.  Just blow them away with Your amazing goodness all over again, and show them how much You love children.

My Heart for Mario

I've been a passionate sponsor for children for several years now, but this past week,  I've been experiencing a whole new level of raw emotions that have simply overwhelmed my heart.  I've been sitting here all week looking at cherished photos of one of my sponsored children, Yolani, and can hardly tear myself away from looking into her eyes. 

Last week, another sponsor, Kim, and her husband visited the project in Honduras where my sweet Yolani lives, and they took beautiful pictures of her to share with me while they spent the week ministering to the children and serving the church.  I've been watching the videos that they have posted, and in a whole new way have seen the sheer reality of the poverty that one of MY kids lives with.  Not just poverty that is "out there" somewhere, but the poverty where my girl lives and walks and plays everyday.  And I've wanted to just sit and cry.

It hurts...   a lot.  And at the same time that the pain increases, so does the love, overwhelming love for this precious child, for each of my sponsored children, as well as love for each of the children of the other sponsors.

And love for one precious boy named Mario. 

Kim writes, "I had the privilege of delivering hugs and packages for many of you OCer's...and it was pure joy.  However, one of the packages I delivered was to a dear boy who is still unsponsored. Mario will turn 11 in September. He lives just off the road that goes toward my Luz Maria's house...a good 40 minute walk for him to the center and easily 40 minutes-1 hour from school. The roads are rough and steep, and his home actually sits on a very steep hillside. We passed it on the way to Luz's house and the director pointed it out to us.

Our translator was acquainted with Mario's family. I knew his parents were separated...but could not have dreamed the real situation. Mario's father was described as an alcoholic and a pimp. One night, he became angry and ripped the roof of off part of the home with his bare hands. You can still see the empty shell of a room. Mario, his siblings, and his mother now share one dark bedroom.

This boy could use some serious encouragement. He has a quiet spirit and an amazing smile. Your love could make a huge difference in his life! I have lots of photos and even video for his new sponsor!"

Would you consider sponsoring Mario?  I would love to sponsor him, but am unable to add any more to all my sponsored sweeties at this time.  Please join me in praying for a sponsor for Mario. We can't fix all the problems of poverty out there in a moment, but we CAN make a difference in the life of this one.  Will you be the one who will do this, the one who will say "Yes!" to sponsoring Mario?