Healing the World: World Vision

I mentioned during the 31 Days of Encountering Judaism about the concept of tikkun olam, or healing the world.

There are many ways to do this, and this might become a recurring theme on this blog, but the first way is perhaps not the most obvious.

I'd like you to join me in sponsoring a child through World Vision. It's an act that makes the difference for not just a single child, but for her family and her village. It'll transform you, too.

It took me a long time to decide to become a child sponsor. I worried about the overhead costs, and how much benefit it would really have. (Rachel Held Evans did too, but promise me you’ll come back and finish reading this post!) But then God slowly worked to change my heart.

It was a woman speaker at a conference (I wish I could remember who -- it was in Orange County) who talked about meeting the child whose photo was on her fridge. It was fellow bloggers who wrote about traveling to these places where child sponsorship had made such a huge positive impact. It was my church’s sponsorship of a World Vision child and I was the one who got to update the bulletin board about her.

After discussing the financial commitment with my husband, I went to the World Vision website and decided to choose a girl because I knew via the Millennium Development Goals that girls are most adversely affected by poverty.

Her face popped up on the screen and I knew in an instant she would be the one I’d sponsor. 

It’s only been a couple of years, and already the village has been improved via a water project and she’s enjoying school and we write each other about our gardens. The transformation in me is only just beginning ....

Will you join me?

I couldn't find any fancy images to share ... so here's a link to the World Vision donation page.