Recently I got one of the nicest emails I've ever received and it was from a complete stranger.  Someone I have never met got up the courage to send an email to a complete stranger as well.  She started off telling me that she's been a blog reader for a long time and has been wanting to write this email to me for over a year.  Then she continued by thanking me for a post that I wrote last year that has challenged and encouraged her and for a whole year she's been wanting to reach out to me.

She thanked me for being open with my life and allowing God to use me through my blog.  I wish I could tell you all that she told me, but it's not important to what I'm trying to say here.  The important thing is that this sweet girl encouraged me more than she'll ever know from an email.  She didn't have to write it.  She could have thought it and went on with her life.

I've had times in my life where out of the blue someone has said something that has impacted my life.  They weren't big words, they weren't even sit down conversations, but their words were water to my dry soul at the time.  They didn't intend to change my heart, but through their words I was encouraged beyond what they could have imagined.

Our family has two children that we sponsor through Compassion International.   Wonsli lives in Haiti and Kiara lives in Peru.  Aaron has actually visited both of them.  He's walked in their homes, talked with their families and hugged their necks on behalf of all of us.  We have a binder at our house where we keep all the letters that we receive from our kids.  In fact, now that my kids are getting older they are getting great joy out of receiving letters from Wonsli & Kiara.  We also love to send them letters.  Sometimes we draw them pictures, or send them stickers, or bookmarks, but most importantly we send them letters with words of encouragement.  We love them through our words and try our hardest to encourage them in their lives that we are so far removed from.

Compassion's president, Dr. Wess Stafford, recently released his second book, Just a Minute. In his book he challenges this old adage and contends that it takes just a moment for anyone to positively impact the life of a child.

I know that in my life as a 33 year old woman I was so encouraged by the email from a complete stranger thanking me for putting my life out there and sharing my thoughts.  It costs her nothing and her words were so sweet to me.  That's the same thing we try to do for our Compassion kids, and for our own kids for that matter.  I want to be a mom that takes out “just a minute” to encourage my kids and not one that uses my “just a minute's” to be discouraging.

In case you've been thinking about sponsoring a child through Compassion I highly encourage you to click that cute little banner ->->->-> right over there and find you a child to sponsor.  You will be blessed by your relationship with this child.