Yesterday...

all my troubles seemed so far away....and I would like to keep it that way :)

Severyn and I spent the weekend in the upstate with my family. On Saturday we took a trip up to Brushy Mtn. Motorsports Park and did a bit of trail riding in the mud. Good times!! I took a few spills and took home a few bruises, but it was a blast. We woke up before the sun was up and we didn't get back home until the sun had gone to bed.
On Sunday morning my mom and dad fixed a nice, big, hot breakfast! After breakfast we headed to church at NewSpring, in Greenville. Severyn and I have been attending the NewSpring here in Columbia and we did not want to miss this Sunday if we could help it. We were excited to have my mom and dad join us. Even better, our cousins joined in too. We got to hear a great message but I have to admit, my favorite part was when they had the African Children's Choir perform. I absolutely loved it. I could have listened to them sing on and on and on. It really made me think. Those children come from having nothing. I also heard that they were orphans, so they don't even have parents. Yet, I wish everyone could have heard them sing. They were full of joy and worship. Why can't we all be like that? It made me think about how much I have, to some it may not seem like a lot. However, to those children I would appear to be a very rich person. We are soooo blessed to live in America where we can worship freely, work freely, and speak freely. I often catch myself wishing I had a nicer car, a bigger home, finer clothes and...okay I'll even admit....a full time chef, hehe. Some of these children don't even have shoes to get from place to place. Their bed is on the dirt floor in their mud and stick house. They wear rags and those rags definitely do not match. I want a chef, they just want food.
I have been strongly convicted in the past couple of months. I have way more than I deserve and yet I complain. I've been talking about my sweet little Love that I sponsor through Compassion in previous posts. Maybe the childrens choir had such an affect on me because I have recently started getting a glimpse of life through Loves eyes. After the service on Sunday I decided I needed to do more. I made two firm decisions. The first, I decided to sponsor another child through compassion. I can not tell you how much this organization means to me. I have been working, researching, praying and talking to people with compassions over the month and a half that I have sponsored Love and I know that this organization is fully doing work for God. I realize that there are other organizations out there like compassion, but after doing the research none of them love God as much as the compassion staff. Compassion actually works with local churches in the poverty stricken areas and through those churches they form the projects that the children become a part of and ultimately sponsored out of. I prayed long and hard about this decision. I don't know why it was such a tough decision for me. Why is it that once you have money it's so hard to part with it? Even if it's for the glory of God? Anyways, I prayed and asked God to let me know if he wanted me to take on another child through compassion. I knew that it would be a tad difficult financially, not that we don't have the money but we are trying our hardest to become debt free and to save for our future. I decided to take a leap of faith, fully rely on God and sponsor another Child. Ultimately, all that I have is Gods, what he gives me he can take away. I may need money in the future in the event that our economy washes out and we loose our jobs, but I know that God knows what he is doing and I trust him. My new little child is from El Salvador, her name is Iliana and she is 9 years old.
My second decision, I will be taking a trip to a 3rd world country next year. I have not decided, exactly, which one yet. However, I know that it is between a mission trip with NewSpring to Kenya, or to El Salvador with Compassion to see Iliana or Haiti to visit Love. Every single penny that I make from cakes is going to my sponsorship with Compassion and the rest is being saved to take this trip.
I can not express how good God's love is for each of us. I pray that he keeps my eyes and heart open and does not let me take for granted all that he has given me. I am so far beyond blessed and I know that I owe everything to him...I pray he uses me to work in the lives of these two sweet girls that I am so very excited to get to know through Compassion. I also pray this is just the beginning of the work God wants me to do.
If anyone that reads my blog is in any way interested in sponsoring a child, let me know, I would love to talk to you about it :) I'll even share all of my research and contacts that I've made so far.
I hope everyone has a lovely week and if you get a chance, check out NewSprings service to see the childrens choir that had such an affect on me! The service will be uploaded on Tuesday and you can view the whole service if you want :)


As promised: Love Woodshaina Joseph

PS: You may have figured it out, or maybe you didn't...but I started my blog off w/ the title and song quote because yesterday, I realized just how small my troubles really are compared to the bigger picture. Think about it.