I spoke briefly to Sister Bernice again the other week on the phone and have learned that another one of the children, Selasie, has been brought back to Bernice from a guardian. Selasie lived at the orphanage during my first stay in Ghana but was gone visiting her aunt when my mom and I were there. She was suppose to remain with her aunt after September's events, but now she is now back to being Bernice's responsibility. Selasie is actually staying with Bernice's mom (because of the school she is enrolled in), along with Noble and Elolo; have I mentioned before that Bernice is in her 50s and her mom is maybe late 60s/early 70s! They really are amazing.
I debated writing the remainder of this post. Know now that I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or make it seem like I want anyone’s praises. I think doing a good deed and not telling anyone about it, though very difficult, is a true sign of your heart and intention. But here’s the thing, there’s so much news about the negative things in life and not nearly enough about the good things. So I want to share what is going on in my heart in hopes it starts a rumbling in another’s. Have you ever heard of the 40 Day Journey to Generosity?
Lately I have been being hit left and right it feels like with the need to reexamine my own generosity. I have made some big steps over the past six months to truly want to give cheerfully and regularly of my resources. For me after some original consideration, 10% of what I make was what felt right. I have always felt like a fairly generous person, I like good causes, a bit of a bleeding heart, etc. But, wow, when you really take a calculator out and see that 10% number, it is a bit of a reality check……I’ve been a selfish scrooge….that five bucks at church each week doesn’t really cut it (hey, I thought that was a lot and that was on a good week =))!
Since being back from Ghana, I have gotten really close to reaching my 10% goal, but not fully. There has been something kind of holding me back. Now my ‘almost’ 10% isn’t just to church, though I hope in the near future to get to giving 10% to church and all other causes be in addition. Currently, my ‘almost’ 10% is a mix of mainly church, the kids in Ghana and a couple of other local things I support on a monthly basis. As I talked about before, my mom and I have been sponsoring Elolo for quite sometime now (really in one way or another since I first went to Ghana), but I have wanted since September to sponsor another of the children for boarding school (I do wish it could be more than one) and have just been procrastinating on what the best way would be (i.e. monthly, a couple of large donations, etc). In the meantime, I’ve started to do some major saving for another major endeavor that is down the road a bit. This endeavor will take a lot of savings and a lot of faith when it comes down to it and also involves the kids in Ghana in a way (no I am not thinking about moving there….just in case that is running through your mind). But this need to save a substantial amount of money that is also for a really good cause had made me start rethinking my ability to sponsor another one of the kids for boarding school. Of course, I didn’t like this idea, but I can’t really make money magically appear so I thought that would have to be that. I have to choose.
But suddenly I have been inundated with messages about sacrificial giving and faithful giving…. and feeling like I need to make this sponsorship donation. Giving what I can now faithfully, knowing that God will provide for me in the future when its needed...its a little scary, but awesome! I have been in fear of giving the money to fully sponsor one of the kids because I fear the large sum that I need to save and not being able to do it. But what I’ve come to realize finally is that the money I have right now is not really mine; it has only been entrusted to me and I need to give back to God what is his. So, okay, I thought a lot about the donation and then I looked back at how I was doing with my 10% giving. Well, I was falling short as I knew. But then I calculated in the sponsorship donation and what that would equal out to for the year and I kid you not, it was got me right at 10%! So this week I wrote the full check, cried a little….really it was out a joy, not sadness….and took the leap of faith and it is awesome!
Now again, I don’t write this to congratulate myself or even suggest you also sponsor one of the kids (though that would be huge and help sooo much), but hope it does a little something in your heart too.
Here are just a few of the cool resources/interesting facts/verses that got me thinking….
An awesome 40 Day Journey to Generosity- www.givewithjoy.org –Very cool, you get messages to your email inbox for 40 days with brief teachings on giving with joy and viewing money totally different than what is pushed at us by society.
1 Timothy 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God.
Think that verse above doesn’t apply to you, that you are not one of those rich people?
- Did you realize that if you personally make more than $1500 per year you are richer than 75% of the world’s 6+ billion people!
-3 billion people live on less than $2 a day
-70% of the world’s wealth is concentrated in just 5% of the population (guess where most of that 5% resides)
-If you own a car, you are in the top 6% of the wealthiest people in the world
This is really cool: How rich are you? To find out how your income compares to everyone else in the world go to: www.globalrichlist.com
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