You all are amazing, you know that!?! We had 104 people apply for a scholarship to sponsor a child in East India through Compassion in a one hour period of time. That is incredible.
So, here it goes. Our winners were chosen by Random.org:
8- Sara @ 2:46
15- Lindsay @ 2:49
75- Laurie @ 3:23
58- KrisPT @ 3:12
48- Melody @ 3:07
44- MiMi @ 3:05
103- Tera @ 3:42
17- Living in His Arms/Jennifer Dayton @ 2:50
76- Laura @ 3:24
37- Stef Layton @ 3:00
Congratulations, Ladies. And thank you for your willingness to write and to love a child in East India. Now please send your full name, physical address, home and cell phone number, along with your email address to [email protected] and we will get this ball rolling!
Since we are talking about India and Compassion right now, I thought I’d leave you with a few final memories of mine. Patricia Jones, one of my fellow India-bloggers, told us on our last day in Calcutta to walk away with one “snapshot” from the trip. One very vivid picture that could sum up our experience. Well, I need to have two. I know, I’m overly verbose if not just downright rebellious. You should have seen me in Middle School. It wasn’t pretty. I’ve always gotta walk over the line, just a little bit. Sorry, Patricia. By the way, I miss you. And everyone else from the trip.
Deep breath.
So here are my two snapshots:
Here I am at one of the Compassion projects hanging over a little boy reading a passage from the Gospel of Matthew in Bengali.
I cannot tell you how many times I asked the children what their favorite thing was about their particular Compassion project. The vast majority of the time it was something along the lines of, “The stories about Jesus.” I would either say or think to myself, “Mine too. Mine too.” I wanted to tell them that even though I live a “lavish” life in America, I would feel completely and utterly hopeless without those stories that tell me about Jesus Christ. Scripture didn’t just change my life once. It still changes my life on a daily basis. There were so many barriers that kept me from fully relating to the children I encountered: the sheer difficulty of their daily living conditions, the language barrier, and the cultural divide. But the hope of Jesus Christ revealed in the Scriptures is something with which I can relate. I’m convinced and have been for many years that I couldn’t handle the difficulty of life without the hope that is ministered to my soul when I read about Jesus.
These beautiful Gulmohar trees with their brilliant orange blooms are scattered here and there throughout the lush green landscape in Calcutta.
The Gulmohar trees represented to me just a little glimpse of beauty in a city full of so much pain and so much ruin. They reminded me something akin to a voice calling out in a desert. A little spec of hope. A tiny brush stroke of color. Just when you are tempted to think there is no beauty left in this world, nothing to hope in, little to look forward to, God paints a brilliant orange in your grim and gray horizon. Life is really hard. The really tough truth is that living is much harder for some people than others. The injustice is hard to stomach and it takes a lot of guts to stare it in the face. As I’ve been back home I haven’t done the whole typical “hatred toward greedy America” spiel- and I have people like you to thank for it. I couldn’t lose hope even if I wanted to. I couldn’t lose hope because every single day since I’ve been home I’ve gotten a new letter or email from someone who is giving up his or her life for the sake of another. People who are speaking on behalf of those who don’t have a voice. Those who would never be heard even if they screamed as loud as they could. I’ve heard from people who are honestly being the hands and feet of Jesus to a truly broken world. People who make me want to follow Christ better and harder.
There really is some good out there, isn’t there? I want to be brave enough to face the suffering in our world but not at the expense of recognizing the light shining in the darkness. And there is light shining. Its pale reflection is seen even here in something so silly as a little dinky blog. I see it. It might be dim compared to the overwhelmingly dark background but I still see it.
Let His Kingdom Come,
Melissa
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I love this dinky little blog.
Thanks for sharing your heart, Melissa!
Thank you for sharing those 2 pics and your beautiful thoughts. Those stories of Jesus are needed anywhere you live! 🙂
Hugs,
Susan
I am so excited for those children who get to receive love and encouragement from these women. I am still anxiously awaiting my packet in the mail. I sponsored a young girl while you were blogging from India and I am just dying to know more about her and get writing!! I love the little glimpses of God’s glory like those trees, He is so gracious with us.
AAAAAHHHHH!! I can’t even tell you how loud I was screaming when I saw my name! I had tears filling my eyes as I told my kids why I was praising God!! Thank you sooooo so much!!! My kids are already asking if they can draw a picture right now. 🙂
yaaaaay!!! I can’t express what an answered prayer this is!! God always has a way of surprising us in the way He gives us his “yes”! 🙂 I’ve been praying for weeks over sponsoring a child because God had laid it so heavily on my heart while you guys were on your trip, and I would cry thinking that my husband just wasn’t on board (he is so incredibly stressed and truly just couldn’t think about another thing). So I’ve been praying CONSTANTLY that the Lord would just speak to his heart WITHOUT my words, because I didn’t want my excitement to be perceived by my husband as nagging, and therefore turn him off to the idea.
Literally 2 minutes before I saw your post about the contest today I had briefly said something about sponsoring a child to my husband on the phone. Then I saw your post and sent the link to him, not realizing it was even a contest- trying to just show him how awesome it was that 900 kids had been sponsored as a result of your trip!
Anyway, I’ve gone on WAY too long but I just wanted to thank you with all my heart!! I will send my info along. 🙂 God bless you!!!
Melissa,
I have been on several mission trips to China and in orphanages there and have had seen the poverty and brokenness of the children. I understand your feelings of sadness about these such situations, but also feel the joy and rejoice with you in knowing that God is there too. You said, “There really is some good out there, isn’t there?” There is! There is! Reading your blog today reminded me of the verse your precious Mama read in the introduction for Living Beyond Yourself. Psalm 27:13 “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”
He is so very good! What a blessing to have these life changing moments with the Lord!
Thank you for encouraging and helping those who follow this blog to support the children. It will bless their socks off! Thanks for sharing your heart with us about your trip to India and all those precious kids.
Melissa:
Your words hit home to me as I read this blog. The LPM blog is a light to me in the darkenss of my little corner of the world. I feel as if I have friends around me, even though I don’t see them, they don’t talk back to me, I feel like they are there.
I totally agree………Scripture doesnt just change our lives once, but it changes our lives on a daily basiis.
I so love this little blog too, it has been a lifeline for me.
Becky
Yay! I’ve won a beautiful Indian soul on which to lavish the love of Jesus Christ! I feel so incredibly blessed.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, LPM, for this contest. This is the most awesome example ever of a win-win opportunity!
Well said, Melissa!!
I was one of the 104 that posted a comment to see if I would be chosen to send encouragement to a sponsored child. Even though I wasn't chosen, I will continue to pray for these children & hopefully, one day, I will be in a position to to sponsor one myself. I just love reading the blogs about your journey!
Congrats to those that were chosen!!!
Patti
Amen! Praise God – 1,000,000 children. Our God is so good!!
I am so happy for you ladies who now have the joy of sponsorship! It is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done in my life. God speaks to you in a new and fresh way!
Melissa….I love this dinky little blog too! The fellowship that we share on this blog is unlike anything I’ve experienced elsewhere!
Hey Melissa,
I loved what you wrote – the stories of Jesus bridge all those divides. And I think this idea to offer sponsorship scholarships is just lovely!
Blessings,
Adrienne
Melissa,
Thank you for your touching blogs on the Compassion trip. I read each of them with tears in my eyes. I am awaiting my adoption packet eagerly as I sponsored a precious little girl in India as a result of your blogs.
You’re so great, Melissa! I wish I could have gotten in on that contest thing, but I wasn’t on here then, so I guess it wasn’t meant to be. That’s okay. I now have taken my son to the ER 6 times or anyway, he’s gone to the ER that many times in the last month. I haven’t taken him myself every time. One time was by ambulance from his school. We do have a pretty solid diagnosis now. He does have asthma, so these are all severe asthma attacks that his inhaler couldn’t fix. I will continue giving updates on my blog, so if you want more details see my blog at http://spaparazzo.blogspot.com/
but in the meantime please pray for Jeremiah Paparazzo and his family.
I love LPM! Life changing that is what LPM is. You guys challenge us to be all God wants and desires us to be. My prayer is that I will become who He desires me to be and will be available when He calls.
Thanks for supporting us.
Jan
Melissa,
I appreciated your thought about the possibility of responding to the scenes you experienced in India by becoming cynical about indulgent American Christians. Surely that is a snare from you know who to steal benefits God has in mind for those who are able to go. Love the pictures of those dear kids. My husband and I started some sponsorships after our kids left home and we (me mainly)were faced with the pangs of an empty nest. Your posts have been a reminder that it’s so much more than sending a check every month. I got out the correspondence form and mailed off a new letter to our sweet Patroba, age 16 – who works very hard in math class and loves soccer.
Bless you all.
Love in Him,
Becky B.
Melissa,
The darker the dark, the brighter the light shines.
The October after Hurricane Katrina New Orleans was so dark – no street lights, empty houses, no electricity. I actually spent one night in my house that fall and when I struck a match to light a candle I understood “let there be light.” One matchstick will light the entire room.
So you see, no matter what we contribute, even if it feels small, the light is shinning.
Thank you again for sharing India with us. Because of your daily postings many siestas are now sponsor moms. Thanks Melissa.
Elaine
New Orleans
I am sorry I missed the Compassion “contest”, but I plan to sponsor anyway. I was so touched by all you shared that week. I am taking a trip to Ethiopia this summer, to bring home my adopted daughter…..as soon as I return from that trip. (every spare penny is going to that right now)…I want to sponsor one or two…
Blessings to you Melissa. Lives are changed.
Melissa your words have a way of stirring my heart. What a great post. Thank you for all you have done and will continue to do for the least of these. -Steve Jones
You are BRAVE, Melissa! A “brave-hearted” woman of God.
I bet you have a whole reel of pictures you are carrying around, you rebel you.
This was the coolest idea! It speaks volumes about the heart of LPM. That’s why I unabashedly love each and every one of you!
Melissa,
I miss you too!!!
Thank you so much for doing this. I love reading the comments too.
Much love,
Patricia
Thant’s so awesome!!! I can’t wait to go on my first mission trip this year!
Hey.. my word verification is “press”…. ya think it’s for “press on?!” yeah!
So that’s why orange is my favorite color?? Who knew?
Thank you so much! I’m an advocate with Compassion and sponsor a little boy in India and a little girl in Ethiopia. I sent your link to all of the sponsors at our church (we just had Compassion Sunday a few weeks ago). It has been encouraging and spurred me to write my children and pray for them more. And to covet a Compassion trip of my own :-)–maybe Ethiopia next spring.
I just wanted to say Thank you Melissa! I think you and your family have had a much bigger and far reaching impact than you can ever imagine. I also love this dinky little blog! Which I have a feeling is getting less dinky by the minute.
I signed up to sponsor a child from India while you were there. I poured over the pictures and no way, I could not pick. I tried and tried and just couldn’t choose.
So I just hit the button for them to choose and left it to God.
When I opened my packet looking at me was the sweet face of a little 6yr.old girl named Hansika. My heart melted immediately and I was in love. Honestly every time I think of her,look at her or pray for her I could just weep from the emotion! I can’t even imagine what your experience with these precious children was like.
Hansika was not smiling in her picture. My hope is that someday I will get a picture of her smiling like the children in your pictures.
I’m going to have someone take a picture of my two grandchildren with their arms hugging in front of them and me behind them with my arms hugging around them and then photoshop the photo of Hansika in the middle of us like we are hugging her. I hope she likes it!
Again Melissa, THANK YOU!
Sharon from LP
The hands and feet of Jesus . . .
I just love that sentiment, and it makes me want to live just what it says.
This “little dinky blog” is one of my favorite ways to stay connected to the Vine! You all are such a blessing!
The first week of May I attended the Vineyard USA National Leaders Conference in Galveston, TX (had my first Moon Pie :)) We were blessed to have Wess Stafford join us and speak to our entire group our last morning together. He is the president of Compassion International. What an amazing man. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place when he was done speaking. What made it even better for me, was that I had been following your blog Melissa, so I’d heard all about their work in India. My husband and I got to speak with him after wards and I was able to tell him how I was following the blogger trip to India. He seemed a little surprised to meet someone who was actually following a trip that was taking place at that exact moment. God’s timing to hear him and meet him wasn’t a coincidence. Mr.Stafford is generously donating his book “Too Small to Ingnore” to every attendee of the conference! That’s over 1,000 people. I can’t wait to get mine and dig in! What an amazing work they do, and how awesome that there are now 1,000,000 children hearing about the Kingdom of God. Incredible! Some day we would love to sponsor too, I know my kids would LOVE it, but that just isn’t possible right now. Thanks LPM for making that available to others today, you guys bless me in so many ways! And thanks for this “little blog” that so encourages me to keep following The King!
Sandi
Girl. I hear you. And I too love this dinky little blog! I love the body of Christ, don’t you? SUCH A GIFT.
I serve in a ministry that goes into darkness, and wow … it is dark in there. But God keeps showing glimpses of Himself in that darkness. I have to grin every time He does it. He is hidden only to eyes who can’t see Him or who aren’t looking with expectation. He is there.
Thanks for sharing what He is doing in India! There IS a lot of good out there 🙂
Melissa,
I see the light too. And I love Him.
Melissa,
Have you read Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love”? It is amazing. Yes, there are some things I do not agree with in it, but overall it challenges one’s faith in ways that are indescribable. It has truly rocked my world and that has resulted in my looking at the world in a whole different way. Your posts from India just confirmed all that the Lord has done in my heart as a result of reading “Crazy Love”. Thank you.
Leah
I’ve been “following” this blog for a while now, but have not spent a lot of time hanging out here with you sweet ladies. I just wanted you to know how BLESSED I was to come over today and see all that’s been going on. (I just clicked through your link and am now sponsoring a little boy named Amos.. he’s SOOOOOO CUTE!)
I’m a mom of 3 boys, so I tend to have a soft spot in my heart for boys. ☺ Our first born (he was 11 at the time), went HOME to be with JESUS almost 2 and a half years ago after battling cancer). His testimony and how he spent his last days LITERALLY in CONVERSATION with our LORD STILL AMAZES me! Sorry, got off track there… LOL!! (I DO love little girls too, I just seem to have an extra soft spot for little boys)
Anyway.. I just wanted you to know that you’ve blessed my heart today.
Oh, my friend, her daughter-in-love (as she calls her), and I will be in Memphis to see your Mom in October. Will you be there??? ☺☺☺☺☺
LOVE YOU, Sweet Sister!
HAVE A BLESSED week!!
I am still so excited 10 hours later after reading my name! Last night, I couldn’t even get the words out to tell my husband as I kept choking on tears! thank you for doing this! Thank God for doing this!
Keep posting those pictures!
Stef Layton
Early this morning, I thanked God for the Christian Blog world. How I get fed, encouraged, loved on, loved through.
Your two pictures, stepping outside the box, are incredible.
Lovingly,
Yolanda
Melissa, this post begs for one of my heartfelt, God inspired poems! If it is too lengthy to post I understand! I serve at a food pantry at my church and have found a passion for this ministry!
Manna House has proven to me,
It’s truly more blessed to give than receive.
For in the past month I’ve met people,
With circumstances hard to believe.
Serving here has caused me,
To step way out of my comfort zone.
I’ve met people who are both hurting and hungry,
Some are feeling life’s hurts all alone.
I pray God will make me a blessing,
As I help them put food in their carts.
I want His light to shine through me,
And they too will desire Christ in their hearts.
Some clients are becoming familiar,
It’s getting easier to remember a face.
We are building relationships slowly,
We strive to show them God’s love and grace.
I never dreamed that homeless people,
Would be REAL names in my prayers.
But, because of Manna House’s ministry,
These men know that this church cares.
I feel certain God is smiling,
As He sees all this ministry provides.
I pray the last, the least, and the lost,
Will feel His presence inside.
So I close this poem with repetition,
It’s truly more blessed to give than receive.
May Manna House never stop giving,
And through it, others might come to believe.
grateful,
eva
‘the darker the dark the brighter the light shines’–wow!
Thanks Melissa, for this timely post. Once again, as has happened so many times on this blog, God’s timing is perfect. He’s answering prayers all around us, even right here in my heart.
Blessings,
Bobbie
Melissa, you really are a fantastic writer. Thanks for making me think, and making me feel. I pray we will all be faithful to act agaist the darkness, but never fail to see the light. Peace.
What images to remember….God’s beauty…the natural beauty of nature AND the natural beauty of a child reading God’s Word!
Thanks for sharing the experience with us….we have truly grown inside your experience!!
Congratulations to the ladies who were selected! And thank you, LPM, for doing this!
Blessings
Michelle
Oh my heart is singing and tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat with the thought of how these 10 new sponsored Compassion children through the love of Christ as shown by LPM blog, and your efforts Melissa, has changed literally hundreds of lives when you consider the “ripple effect”. Can’t you just see Melody’s direct answer to prayer, and the effect on her husband, her family and the family of God when tells the wonder-story of how God let her have the desire of her heart in the most unexpected way to sponsor a child? Imagine the effect on the children of our blessed Siesta’s who were chosen to be given the sponsorship, and now they have extended family, “brothers and sisters” for whom they can show love and draw pic’s and send photos and be a part of that child’s life. I pray that many more Christian organizations “catch the vision” and follow your example. Way to go, LPM! Let our light shine for His glory…remember the song “Shine, Jesus, shine fill this land with Your glory…” For America, for India and to the uttermost parts of the world, Shine for Him! What a happy day…
Hugs in Him,
Pam H.
So. Cal Siesta
When I read “Tera’s” comment, I just cried, hoping she had an EMail add. that I could send prayers and encouragement her way, as a brave single mom with 4 little ones, and a husband “who couldn’t take it anymore” and left after 15 years of marriage. I wept and interceded for God to show up and show off on her account. I asked God, please, please let Tera be one of the ones chosen, work a miracle LORD! I went back to the Blog and checked on winners names and lo and behold, there she was…and Praise God for His ways which are past finding out! Her heavenly “husband” will not let her down or dissapoint her. This is the glorious way that LPM Blog is used in mysterious kingdom work. Another “joy unspeakable and full of glory” moment for precious Tera and her children, now with the addition of a precious child from India. What a book is being written about the story of Tera’s life in heavenly realms, because of Jesus. Yes, I believe that she will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. May God’s power of restoration and renewal be present in her life for His glory! Jesus is shining…and tears are flowing.
Because of Him,
Pam H.
So. Cal Siesta
God is truly working through you. You are a blessing in His eyes. Thank you and LPM for letting God work through each one of you.
Marsha
Yaaay, big congratulations to the ladies who won 🙂 I read back over their submission comments and I am THRILLED for them all!! It feels so good knowing the children in India will be well taken care of~ both through Living Proof's wonderful offer, and by their new "extended" families!
Meliss, thanks so much again for keeping this alive for us! It's so very easy to settle back into the "routine" of things. You are beautiful. <3
I missed all this fun and excitement but am almost in tears over reading these two posts and getting caught up on how fabulous this is!!!!
Way to go. Praise God. This is truly awesome!!!
Blessings~
Fran
I did not read this until today!!! but thanks so, so, so much for sharing your journey with us! I have adopted a little girl (I have boys) and I am so excited about it!
Subject Change: We already have 2 groups ready for our Summer Siesta Bible study! We are all getting our books…any more info. about it yet? How it will work? Same as last year? WE are SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!! we loved last year! Guess I need to be patient, huh? Sorry…
Thank you Melissa, for educating us through your trip about Compassion and the needs in India. I fell in love with the kids while I followed your blog and listened to the live chat on the web. I sponsored a child in South India and also visited the Compassion headquarters in Colorado Springs.
I learned that if you are a sponsor, you can be a correspondent for children that you do not financially sponsor. These are children that are sponsored by churches or people that are unable to write to the child. The correspondence is as important, if not more important as the financial giving. Since Living Proof is a sponsor, it sound like many of the Siestas would make great correspondents. You guys are great!!
In Him, Sandy
This dinky little blog is sometimes my only light as we fight to keep a business afloat, and live out this Christian walk as various trials assail us. Thank you Melissa for your beautiful pictures and thoughts. You have definitely given me a new appreciation for what God has blessed us with and a new appetite to help with missions.
Wow….what a wonderful outreach!!!!! Bless God!!!! Woo Hoo!!!
Melissa, This dinky little blog delivers a tremendous encouraging Light in a very dark world. LPM blog helps me stay on track and understand more of who God is and what He desires from His children. Thank you and your MOJOFITZ family for allowing yourself to be vunerable so that this blog world can know who Christ wants to be in our lives with your vivid and descriptive writing.
I’m so sorry I missed this, but I’m really excited for the ladies who “won” this opportunity! Someday, I’m going to sponsor a child, too! I’m determined!
Just thought someone could use this word today:
You hide them in the secret place of Your pesence from the conspiracies of man, You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
Psalms 31:20
Shalom