Manzi

God never does anything by accident, does He? His perfect plan is beyond my understanding, but I'm so thankful His plan included introducing us to Manzi.

Manzi is an eight-year old boy (same age as Cory) that lives in Rwanda, Africa, and him and his family needed someone to fight for them. God chose Heath and I to fight for him, for only $35/month.

I was incredibly blessed this past weekend to receive my first packet of letters from Manzi, as I first started to write him in February. I was told correspondence could take up to three months, and I was eagerly checking the mailbox, hoping for something from him. By mid-summer when I didn't hear anything it was easy to feel discouraged. It would have been easier to stop sponsoring, since that emotional need of mine wasn't being met right away. I began praying that God would teach me to give with a cheerful heart regardless, to think of Manzi as my own son, who was hungry and depended on me to support him. Since Manzi is eight, the same age as Cory, I was able to look at Cory and see Manzi sometimes. Cory who depends on me for food and water, and doesn't really have to think about thanking me, or wonder where it's coming from, but needs it anyways, and I was able to let those expectations of my mailbox being flooded with thank-you cards subside.

God's really been doing a number on me in the finances department for awhile now. If you've read my past blog entry about tithing, you know that giving is something God's been teaching me in my adult life, it's not something that comes naturally to me, and sometimes it stings a little. Beyond tithing, this was my first endeavor with planning to give. With purposely setting aside money each month to give. Looking at that cute purse and walking away, because somewhere out there where I couldn't see it, some little boy needed that money more than I needed that new purse/shoes/shirt/meal out- whatever. I'll be the first to say it was hard sometimes, and I love a new purse with the best of them! But God is good.

This past weekend when I finally got to open that thick packet filled with words of thanks penned from a little boy in Africa, telling me he was praying for me, and thankful for my love, I just cried.

God is so faithful.

There are so many ways to help others. Here's one way:
https://fh.org/give/sponsor