Compassion Focus: Ana Lucia

Last month I told you part of our story of being Compassion sponsors and this month, I’d like to introduce you to another of our Compassion children, Ana Lucia.  I believe it was in 2003 and I was working in a church in Calgary where Compassion advocates came monthly to share about their ministry and give people the opportunity to sponsor a child.  I remember that I was having a time of personal devotions and I was seeking the Lord on areas of my life that He wanted to put His finger on.  For several months, I had been thinking about sponsoring a child, but I kept procrastinating, since I was living on a very limited income and who knows what other excuses I was making.  Well, as I was talking to the Lord, He reminded me of this desire and revealed to me that this was something He wanted me to do and that I was being disobedient by continually putting it off.  I knew that I needed to just take the step of faith and sponsor a child, regardless of my fears or doubts, and trust that God would provide for my needs, even as I provided for the needs of this young boy or girl.

The very next time Compassion came to our church, I went to their table and looked at all the beautiful faces they had displayed and there was one little girl who immediately grabbed my heart.  In that moment, I became the sponsor to Ana Lucia, an adorable 6 year old who lives in Guatemala.  Her family & friends call her Lucy and she has 7 siblings!  She’s also an auntie and has two nieces!  Almost immediately I received my first letter from Ana Lucia with a colorful drawing and she expressed how happy she was to have me as her sponsor.  Since then I have received many more letters and drawings as she would tell me about how much she loved the student center and learning about Jesus, as well as everything she was learning in school.  She would ask me how she could pray for me and would tell us how we could pray for her and her family.  In 2005, her town was impacted by hurricane Stan, which caused landslides and affected their food supplies.  Thankfully she was okay and I was glad to know that our sponsorship was helping to provide for her and her family’s needs after the disaster.  In 2007, we discovered that her mother had even become involved as a youth leader in their church, which was really special to us to know that even her family members were being impacted by the church’s ministry to them.  She is now 10 years old and entering into 5th grade and her letters are filled with her love for Jesus.

Compassion International ministers to over a million children in 25 of the world’s poorest countries through its Child Development Sponsorship Program. With the support of sponsors, Compassion is reaching through the hands of local churches to release children from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty.  Compassion International invented child sponsorship and it has proven to be a successful child development strategy. This ministry hinges upon the relationship between the sponsor and child. That relationship goes both ways. Sponsors correspond with their sponsored children and support Compassion’s ministry to children for $32 (USD)/ $35 (CDN) every month. Sponsors also receive letters from their sponsored children, watching them grow toward physical and spiritual maturity. Sponsorship is a relationship that transforms both sponsors and children.

If you are reading this and you’ve been thinking about sponsoring a child, I encourage you to take that leap of faith and consider sponsoring one of these children, who have been waiting over 6 months for a sponsor.  Every child Compassion ministers to needs a sponsor and at the moment there are thousands who do not have one. These children need words of encouragement and Compassion needs the cost of their care sponsored so that the ministry can continue to expand.  My husband and I don’t even think twice about the money that comes out of our bank account every month – it is worth every penny to see how the lives of 3 amazing children are being changed!  If it means we go without cable television or some of the other luxuries available to us, that is a very small price to pay for the rewards of being a sponsor.

If you already sponsor a child with Compassion, then perhaps you’d like to consider blogging about your own experience and become an advocate for needy children in your own sphere of influence on the internet.  If you don’t have a blog, share your story in the comments here & maybe give a word of encouragement to those who are thinking of sponsoring a child.