I believe… that God can use me to make a difference

I’ve been developing a much deeper relationship with the Lord the last 18 months as a direct result of resolving to spend time in His Word every single day. God has really used this time to speak to me and change me. He has given me a new confidence in who I am, and has also given me a deeper peace.

Another of the changes that He has been working in me is that my compassion towards the less fortunate has blossomed. Over a year ago, the Lord started to impress on me that I should take on my own sponsor child. My parents cautioned me to be absolutely sure I wanted to do this before I made such a large financial commitment. After watching the Compassion International video at Kingdom Bound later last August, I knew without a doubt what I had to do! The video touched me so much as God moved in my heart and spoke to me through it. As the tears streamed down my cheek, I knew how God was going to use me – to sponsor a child. I carefully picked out Prisca, an adorable little four year old girl from Tanzania.

I have been so blessed by my sponsorship of Prisca. I am just so full of joy and love whenever I think about her, pray for her, write her letters and, especially, when I read her many letters to me. She has definitely taken a piece of my heart! She is so precious and considerate! After I mentioned in one letter that we have lots of snow in Canada, she wrote back to tell me that she was praying for my protection “from the falling ice”! Isn’t that so adorable? It made me feel so loved! God has really used this opportunity to show me how he can use me to make a difference!

God has continued to deepen my compassion and has shown me other ways to reach out to those less fortunate than myself. Last fall, I started baking plates of goodies to serve at a drop-in centre for street people in downtown Ottawa. The homeless are so appreciative and find it so amazing that I would do that for them – “That reminds me of the baking my grandmother used to do!” The last six months, I have been active in a brand new ministry of baking cakes for a monthly birthday celebration for the street people. I get so much joy knowing that, from simple actions on my part, I am making a difference.

God is continuing to move in me and change me, and one of these ways has been this deepening compassion towards those less fortunate than myself. I am so thrilled that I will have the privilege of using this God-given compassion to minister to orphaned children in Swaziland. I believe… that God can use me to make a difference.

“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me.”  Mark 9:37