This week we looked at one woman, from the original events of Christ’s coming, who lived a lifetime of less.  But how does living less look today? In the 21st century?

A Story of Living Less as Compassion Sponsors

“Living less” to make Jesus greater has a lot of faces, but I was invited to share one beautiful example. Remember Sandeep? I shared the two parts of his story during Compassion Bloggers month. Today, I want to share a fresh testimony from Sandeep about meeting his Compassion sponsors. They are people who decided to be a little “less” so Jesus could be displayed in the life of a boy from India named Sandeep. Now he is a man with a heart for glorifying God. Now he, too, wants to be less.

“Poverty was not born in me, but I was born in poverty.” ~ Shared by Sandeep

Poverty was not born in me but I was born in poverty, and due to poverty I didn’t have dreams, hope, food, shelter or clothes. But Compassion released me from poverty and gave me everything I need in my life. For sixteen years my sponsors nourished my roots and now they have seen the fruits.

Readers, God had a great plan for me. He brought me to the USA to share my story  this past summer.  Every day I grew in the word of God. This past summer was such a blessing, talking to the teenagers of the USA. They have taught me so many things. I am taking back so many memories.

One of the memories that just came to mind is in one of the camps at Covenant College. One girl came up to me and asked “Can I speak to you alone?” I said, “Yes ma’am.” She tells to me that she was about to run away from the camp and from her family because she wanted to find her birth parents. Let me tell you about her a bit. She told me she was from Bolivia and was adopted by a family from the USA. She asked me what she should do.  She did not know what Jesus says about her. She told me “I have seen Christ in you.  Please tell me what to do.”

My friend, I didn’t have any words to tell her. I prayed to God and asked for words to say, and after that I just shared my life story and told her, “If God has a plan that you will meet your birth parents, you will meet them one day. He has brought you up from Bolivia so that in future you will pull others from there because you have tasted every drop of life over there and been transformed.”

In the middle of the summer I got opportunity to meet my Compassion  sponsors. It was such a blessing to meet them after sixteen years. His plans are beyond our imagination. I always say “When we stop thinking, His glory starts.” I went to Kentucky to their house and met them for the first time in person. When I first saw them, reader, believe you me, I was on my knees and thanking God that He had given me the opportunity to meet them.

I told my sponsors it’s not 38 dollars that you paid, but the word of God that you shared with me that was most important. Their unconditional love brought me up and gave me a new life. I still remember my sponsor’s words that she told to me. “Sandeep, maybe we won’t meet on this side of the heaven but we know we will meet on the other side.”

This summer God spoke to me that I must speak for His kingdom and I want to do that for rest of the life. It’s not important what I plan for myself, but it’s important what He plans for me.

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Sandeep’s life will never be the same because of the love his Compassion sponsors invested in him. There are children in need all over the world hoping for a similar experience. Sign up to sponsor a child and begin this life-changing relationship today!