A blog is a gift and a tool and a pebble. Time spent in thought and prayer and waiting and chewing on pens goes into Come Have a Peace, because I want to use it well. It has pebble potential, and such a ripple-causer should be held and tossed with great care.
This month different colored pebbles will be tossed from places with names like “Sandy” and “River” and “‘ville.” From keyboards akin to mine, others who gingerly pray over their gift-tools will share stories and unveil images of people who need ripples to wash over them, ripples that start from far away. Compassion International has called us together for careful launching in order to touch as many dry and thirsty hearts as possible, to send ripples far and wide to places yet untouched.
Since I have this pebble in my hand to toss, I’m offering it to this month of ripple sending, a month of asking people to look at the thirsty and pray for the dryness and maybe send a ripple of their own.
Why use my pebble to send ripples to places and people I’ve never seen and don’t know? Because I have seen, and I do know, and now I can’t go on like I don’t know. Such journeys of discovery are also gifts, and so is life lived overseas in dry places, though it seemed like drinking vinegar at the time. I have seen and touched and listened and had my heart squeezed until it choked, and it was not hard then to let the pebble fly out of my hand. Now that I’m far from the truly drought-dry places, I want to let my pebble fly, but I have to think a lot about how to toss it.
And so for today I only ask if you would just look with Compassion. I’m not even asking you to let go of your pebble. Just to look and to pray. If you will just pray for a person you meet here with Compassion, a ripple will begin.
Julie,
This is the first I have come across your website. What a beautiful ministry you have. We have been connected with child sponsorship in various venues, most recently with Hope of Life in Guatemala, where my daughter served all summer at an orphanage. I affirm and encourage your heart in sharing hope for these beautiful children.
It’s so nice to meet you, Brenda. Welcome! I’m glad you came by, and thank you for being so encouraging. What a wonderful opportunity for your daughter in Guatemala. I had the privilege of taking our daughter to Thailand this summer to minister with a small team of women/teen girls to serve women, children, and villages – it was life changing for my daughter and the other 3 teens. I pray God will use the seeds of your daughter’s summer experiences to grow and bear much fruit. Let’s both pray for Him to use our girls in great ways!
So glad that you are partnering, Our child protection laws mean that the child sponsorship model isn’t used, so it looks a little different. so as they continue to grow up together.
I really don’t know about India’s child protection laws. Can you share how it impacts child sponsorship?