Heavenly Treasures

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

I have read these words a thousand times, and the truth they hold is powerful. Recently, though, they took on new meaning when I read these words...

"Thank you for choosing me as your child. God bless you."

"Pray for me to grow up, please."

"I love you so much. May God bless you."

"Pray for my education, health, and family."

These words were written by my children...children I have never met, yet they are part of my heart. These are words from 2 of the Ethiopian children that our family sponsors through an organization that helps 1.2 million children around the world. Children that, without a sponsor, are at high risk of being orphaned, if not by the death of a parent, by poverty. These children had been waiting over 6 months to be sponsored.

6 months.

That is too long when you are nine years old.

Young children are sponsored more quickly because the sponsors like being able to have a relationship with them from their early years...or maybe it is because they are "cuter" when they are three. But older children wait many months and their families become desperate for help, often trying to raise several children on less than 30 dollars per month. When these older children finally receive word that they have been chosen, they and their families rejoice from the depths of their spirits!

There are estimated to be 147 million orphans in the world...5 million in Ethiopia alone. BUT there are 2.1 billion Christians in the world. If only a small percentage sponsored or adopted one child it would, in essence, eradicate the orphan crisis.

We are the body of Christ. For a small amount, usually around thirty dollars per month, we can be the hands and feet of Jesus and change the direction of a child's life for eternity. Go online, look up the organizations that are available and on the ground in poverty stricken countries around the world. Pray for the Lord to show you His heart for these children and take that step to build a bridge to those little hearts.

One day soon we will seize the opportunity to travel to Africa again, this time not to bring home an orphaned child, but to meet our children who have been spared the orphanage and are thriving in the knowledge of Jesus' love for them...and the knowledge that there is a family far away who loves them and prays for them.

That is what I call a heavenly treasure!