#compassionbloggers
Welp. The #compassionbloggers are striking.They are shooting arrows of love through our hearts and I’m smitten all over again.They are stringing together words, stirring up sentiments and traversing through the creases of our busy, mundane lives to take us on a safari; showcasing the beauty of how the Kingdom touches a weary and dusty earth through Compassion International.
These posts, this idea of #compassionbloggers, are the very idea that snagged the Trotter Tribe’s attention almost 2 years ago. They are the stories that changed everything for us.They are the stories that gave us our Jamesley, Woodlayka and Blessley.It was May-ish two years ago when I stumbled upon a blog written by someone I didn’t know about an organization I had never heard of, Compassion International. So I decided to read on.And I read on….and on…..and on…..and on….A #compassionblogger told of how she had decided to sponsor a boy that was 13, what had happened when she met that boy and how most people don’t understand that these young men are the hope of their respective countries and are raising full families without support or education…..something clicked for me. Something changed everything while I read her blog. Something clicked when I saw the picture of the two of them in front of his hut with a scripture of how extravagantly God had provided painted on the outside of those stucco walls.I remember saying under my breath as I cried, “Ok, I got it.” Tears.I’m embarrassed to say that didn’t do anything with those tears, that "clicking" or confession though. I passed by the opportunity to sponsor because I felt small and unimportant. What could a measly $33 a month do anyway and I’m never going to be THAT woman with THAT story. I’m touched, truly touched, by those that are releasing children from poverty in Jesus Name, but I’m just a normal woman living in western Oklahoma. I reasoned that I was glad there are people out there that can do that sort of thing and write about it.Flash forward to Mother’s Day a few weeks later. It was a beautiful day.I was surrounded by my precious children, sitting front row in our church, service starts, offering plate is passed and a video playing what I assume to be some sort of a sappy Mother’s Day montage does a Jesus juke on me and bam – A Compassion Blogger Video!What the what?!Ok, I got it. Tears.Between Mother’s Day lunch, opening cards and happy tears I find my computer. I tell Toby and the kids that what I want for Mother’s Day is to sponsor a child from Compassion. We all jump on board. We all say, “Ok, I got it.” We pray for eyes to see and a heart to act and we open up Compassion ….Jamesley from Haiti is the very first to pop up sponsor-less. Dress shirt and tie {too small to be his} – eyes begging to be filled with hope, with future – He is, in essence, the future of His country.Click, click, click and we have just become much more than a “normal couple living in a small western Oklahoma town.” We are suddenly caught up in a ridiculous adventure to unlock Hope and Kingdom purposes for a boy a million miles away.Then in an even wilder act of faith months later my husband Toby and I decide to sign up and fly those million miles away, take a bus, take a boat, take another bus and meet Jamesley. The anticipation mounted as we went to Compassion project after project all week in Haiti. Our “Meet Your Sponsored Child Day” arrived and alongside other sponsors we waited with a backpack filled with treats and treasures to remind Jamesley to keep hoping and believing that God sees him; that we see him.But our Jamesley didn’t come.The other sponsored children had spent the night in a hotel, had a beautiful breakfast and refreshed themselves with a shower before coming to the meet up site. The children had been announced and introduction after heart melting introduction was made between child and sponsor. But our Jamesley hadn’t had that opportunity, he hadn’t arrived yet.Our trip leader, Sean, approached us and let us know that Jamesley and his Compassion Project leader we’re coming, but they were unsure how long it would take for them to arrive seeing as their 6 hour bus trip through the jungles of Haiti was taking longer than expected and might result in limited time together.Ok, I got it. Tears.So Toby and I prayed and we realized no length of our journey compared to the journey that Jamesley was taking to get to us. We waited. We kicked his soccer ball around, rearranged the Legos and photos tucked neatly inside his backpack, and took pictures of the other sponsors meeting their children…..and then our trip leader, Sean, called us over. His face was somber and drawn and again I thought..Ok, I got it. Tears.Then his face turned into a full on smile and he said {with joking enthusiasm!}, “Well, guys do you want to meet your sponsored child or what?!!”And there he was! There was OUR Jamesley just arriving with his Compassion Project leader! He got there not 5 minutes after we prayed. I had wondered the night before if I would even recognize him? I mean we only had a single photograph from our initial sponsorship?! But in that moment I knew EXACTLY who that darling boy was! It was a collision of Kingdom on earth and it was glorious. I threw my arms around that child like he was my very own. I hugged him with belief that he is the hope not only of his family, but of his country.
Everything that I had read about that woman that I could never be all at once I was.These stories, these #compassionbloggers, are shared to provoke your heart to know that YOU matter to Kingdom purposes. It doesn’t matter where you are planted. God can weave the small town in the middle of western Oklahoma to the small village in Northern Haiti and unite His Kingdom. Now, our Jamesley writes to us using the most glorious words in the English language, “I love you so much!”
For us, God has done it not only once, but three times. Our Compassion family has grown to include not only Jamesley from Haiti, but Woodlayka from Haiti and Blessly from Dominican Republic. I have every anticipation that we will toss our arms around those darling girl babies someday. I’m also sure that they are the hope for their countries as well.All you have to say is…”Ok, I got it.”….the tears of Joy will come.Will you help a child in need of sponsorship today?Read more of the incredible stories of the #compassionbloggers on these amazing sites:What It Means to Boil Water {Joy the Baker}How to Have a Happy Home {The Nester}A Day in the Life. Ish. {Emily Freeman}The Meaning of Life in Three Parts {Jeff Goins}For more of our personal Trotter Tribe Compassion Story check my other posts:Fear is a BeastA Three Hour TourExtravagant LovePushing Off From The ShorelineTreasuresWorlds Can Collide
