Welcome Back!
It has been quite awhile since a Sponsorship Saturday has appeared here on the blog. Every once in awhile I’ve been sending stories and public domain books in our letters to sponsor children. The response has been fantastic. The kids of all ages seem to like the stories.
Earlier in the month I found another story for the children we sponsor through Compassion. As I read the story and thought about it, a topic from Scripture came to mind. So, I spent some time putting it all together and sent The Sheep and the Pig along with a letter to our sponsored children.
Here is the letter.
August 15, 2018
Dear Julius,
I send greetings to you, your family and your project leaders. I hope that you are well and healthy. It is a blessing to be able to write these letters to you and to become your friend. You are a precious and handsome young man. You are strong and able. You are a gift from God.
Thank you for writing letters to us. It is wonderful to read your thankful words. A thankful heart is a happy heart and I am excited that you are thankful! May God continue to fill you with the desire to give thanks to Him, and to also share Him with others!
I have a question for you. Where do your grandparents live? How far do you have to travel to visit them?
With this letter I am including a story that I recently found. When I read this story, I was reminded of God’s words in 1 Corinthians 12
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Verses 4-6
“For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.” Verse 12
“But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are may members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand,’ I have no need of you’ ; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body and individually members of it.” Verse 18-27
All of the characters in the story worked together to build the house, and then they worked together in living in the house. It is similar for us as God’s People, as the Church. We must work together to participate in building God’s Kingdom, and in living together in love and harmony. We each have talents, personalities and imaginations given to us by God for His purposes. I, Michelle, am a helper and a mentor. I teach younger women how to love and teach their children, and how to study their Bible and seek to know God. That is one of the ways that I work in the Church. What do you think is a way that you work in the Church and serve others?
There are other things we can learn in this story. What other lesson do you think the characters of this story are teaching us?
Now may the Lord bless you, and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord grant you peace.
We love you Julius! We are sending you many hugs.
Michelle
Depending on the age of the individual child, I understand that this letter might be over the youngest children’s heads. But one the things I have seen and now firmly believe is this… Every letter that we send to our sponsored child is treasured and reread over the years. So when I send more complex discipleship letters to the older kids I go ahead send them to the younger kids as well.
There is another thing that I realized during my first trip to El Salvador. Every letter that we send is read by a number of people. The words are read before the letter leaves the US. The words are read by the translator. The words are read by the pastor or tutor, by the parents and sometimes by the child’s friends. While we are writing to the children we sponsor, those words, like the Words that Paul wrote to the churches, are read by many other people. We have the opportunity to speak life and Gospel discipleship to several people with each letter we write.
May this encourage you as you write to your sponsored children!
What are you learning as you sponsor children, and exchange letters with them?
