After a long and tough week, I was laying on my bed scrolling through photos on Instagram using my cell phone and I read a message that perked up my weary heart. You see, I’m a huge fan of Compassion International and they have a team of bloggers and sponsors traveling throughout Tanzania this week uploading photos, writing stories, and posting it all on social media. The photos I saw on Instagram were posted by Compassion International, with two smiling little boys from Tanzania and it said, “Always have hope!”
Amen! Let me introduce you to someone who has made a massive and profound impact on my life….
Jonathan Dominic Mayala is 11 years old and lives in Tanzania. He lives with his grandma, while his dad is a farmer and his mom works sometimes. Jonathan loves animals and he sends me pictures he draws of zebras, giraffes, and lions. Jonathan has a beautiful smile! Jonathan enjoys singing songs, playing marbles, and playing games with other children. Jonathan also loves playing soccer and hide-n-seek. Jonathan washes dishes as part of his family chores, along with carrying water, cleaning, and running errands. Jonathan’s favorite bible verse is about honoring thy mother and father! Jonathan regularly asks me to pray for him, and to pray for his studies in school. I get Jonathan’s report cards on a regular basis and it helps me to know how to pray for him.
Jonathan is my sponsor child. On March 24, 2008 I made a commitment to sponsor Jonathan through Compassion International for a monthly fee which helps with his schooling expenses, his health, his family’s needs, and also with food. Jonathan and I exchange pictures every so often, and I cannot tell you the joy it brings me to get his letters. I see God working in Jonathan’s life, and I can see God using Jonathan to work in the life of others. I wish so badly that I could tutor Jonathan one on one myself, but I do not live in Tanzania – I live in Washington, DC. I would love to adopt Jonathan, but he has family who loves him and I am certainly in no financial position to welcome a child.
As we approach mother’s day, I am reminded of this verse:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. – James 1:27, NIV
How has Jonathan impacted me? Aside from being a child I pray for, I see his joy and hear his little heart poured out onto his letters as he tries to learn English. I hear about his aspirations and even little things like his favorite food is rice and beans. I get to be a part of his life, one life. I get to love him - even if from a distance, and he gets to love me. This little person, prays for me. It was Mother Teresa who said:
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa
While Jonathan is only one, I know that God can do great things through the life of just one. I love children and hope to have my own someday, and I certainly hope to adopt someday as well – again with hopes of making a difference in the life of a child, if God should grant me the blessing. We all may not be able to feed, love, want, or care for a hundred kids, or even 10 kids, but we can make a difference for just one. Isn’t that part of loving your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31, NIV) – a commandment of the Lord?
I don’t get to come home to little arms and little hands wrapped around my neck each day, nor do I get the privilege of cooking bite size meals for little hungry mouths each night. I don’t get to hear the “I love you” from a little voice, nor do I get any kind of flowers on Mother’s Day. I don’t get to read children’s bed time stories to a little one at night, nor do I get to shop for little shoes to put on little feet. I don’t say this to solicit pity for not being a mother, but I say this to understand the blessing of a child – and how just one child actually changes YOUR life. So often, I think we as adults believe we are the ones making a difference in their life, and we do, but let us not forget the massive difference these little people make in ours.
“People who really want to make a difference in the world usually do it, in one way or another. And I’ve noticed something about people who make a difference in the world: They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters. They get excited over one smile. They are willing to feed one stomach, educate one mind, and treat one wound. They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they’re satisfied with small changes. Over time, though, the small changes add up. Sometimes they even transform cities and nations, and yes, the world.” – Katie Davis, mother to 13 adopted orphans and missionary in Uganda
Will you let a child come into your life and change your heart?
Amen! Let me introduce you to someone who has made a massive and profound impact on my life….
Jonathan Dominic Mayala is 11 years old and lives in Tanzania. He lives with his grandma, while his dad is a farmer and his mom works sometimes. Jonathan loves animals and he sends me pictures he draws of zebras, giraffes, and lions. Jonathan has a beautiful smile! Jonathan enjoys singing songs, playing marbles, and playing games with other children. Jonathan also loves playing soccer and hide-n-seek. Jonathan washes dishes as part of his family chores, along with carrying water, cleaning, and running errands. Jonathan’s favorite bible verse is about honoring thy mother and father! Jonathan regularly asks me to pray for him, and to pray for his studies in school. I get Jonathan’s report cards on a regular basis and it helps me to know how to pray for him.
Jonathan is my sponsor child. On March 24, 2008 I made a commitment to sponsor Jonathan through Compassion International for a monthly fee which helps with his schooling expenses, his health, his family’s needs, and also with food. Jonathan and I exchange pictures every so often, and I cannot tell you the joy it brings me to get his letters. I see God working in Jonathan’s life, and I can see God using Jonathan to work in the life of others. I wish so badly that I could tutor Jonathan one on one myself, but I do not live in Tanzania – I live in Washington, DC. I would love to adopt Jonathan, but he has family who loves him and I am certainly in no financial position to welcome a child.
As we approach mother’s day, I am reminded of this verse:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. – James 1:27, NIV
How has Jonathan impacted me? Aside from being a child I pray for, I see his joy and hear his little heart poured out onto his letters as he tries to learn English. I hear about his aspirations and even little things like his favorite food is rice and beans. I get to be a part of his life, one life. I get to love him - even if from a distance, and he gets to love me. This little person, prays for me. It was Mother Teresa who said:
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa
While Jonathan is only one, I know that God can do great things through the life of just one. I love children and hope to have my own someday, and I certainly hope to adopt someday as well – again with hopes of making a difference in the life of a child, if God should grant me the blessing. We all may not be able to feed, love, want, or care for a hundred kids, or even 10 kids, but we can make a difference for just one. Isn’t that part of loving your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31, NIV) – a commandment of the Lord?
I don’t get to come home to little arms and little hands wrapped around my neck each day, nor do I get the privilege of cooking bite size meals for little hungry mouths each night. I don’t get to hear the “I love you” from a little voice, nor do I get any kind of flowers on Mother’s Day. I don’t get to read children’s bed time stories to a little one at night, nor do I get to shop for little shoes to put on little feet. I don’t say this to solicit pity for not being a mother, but I say this to understand the blessing of a child – and how just one child actually changes YOUR life. So often, I think we as adults believe we are the ones making a difference in their life, and we do, but let us not forget the massive difference these little people make in ours.
“People who really want to make a difference in the world usually do it, in one way or another. And I’ve noticed something about people who make a difference in the world: They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters. They get excited over one smile. They are willing to feed one stomach, educate one mind, and treat one wound. They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they’re satisfied with small changes. Over time, though, the small changes add up. Sometimes they even transform cities and nations, and yes, the world.” – Katie Davis, mother to 13 adopted orphans and missionary in Uganda
Will you let a child come into your life and change your heart?
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