Run With Purpose

life guide | Sponsor A Child

As I was perusing the shelves in my church's bookstore this past Thursday night, one title grabbed my attention and urged me to plop down on the empty couch in the back to read some pages before committing to this purchase.  What didn't occur to me was that the nudging I felt leading me to sit down  was God setting up a divine appointment, I love these!  These encounters come about at just the right time, and just the right place.  You and that other person aren't there together by coincidence.

In walks a young girl, who beelines directly to the back and asks if she can sit next to me.  "Of course!', is my reply.  I move over, making room for her on this tiny couch.  Little did I know she was about to reveal she had run away from home, her face had been all over the news, and confided in me she just needed to get away from life.  I was able to tell this 14 year old girl life does get hard.  But guess what?  It does get better.  And she was in the right place, God had cared enough to put her in my path at this exact time and that she has so much to look forward to.  God has a plan for her life.

This couldn't have happened at a more perfect time, because I am in the thick of it... discovering my purpose and I'm learning that mine is to help others find theirs.  I hope my words blessed this sweet girl, as much as she blessed me.  As if this week couldn't have gotten any greater I received my first letter from Patience, my sponsored child in Uganda and confirmed for me even more that my purpose is to help establish these young girls find their worth in Christ.  The Ugandan blog trip I had been following all week has come to an end, and reading the bloggers experiences brought forth such inspiration and motivation to see these children as real life stories, that they need someone in their corner cheering them on in this race of life.  Sometimes it's hard to imagine this because I'm not there, I'm not in the midst of this African village witnessing first hand the lives of these children transforming because of their sponsors and what that sponsorship provides (hope, love, joy).  Instead, God brought forth a girl who needed this boost just as much as these children do, and she was right in my own backyard, in my current sphere of influence, and He let me see in her smile the faces of all these boys and girls.  Then it clicked... while the desire of my heart is to get out in the world to minister to the youth and their families, if I hadn't been on that couch in that bookstore that night maybe that young 'runaway' girl wouldn't have been encouraged to strive for something more.

Girls (and guys), pack your bags with purpose.  Don't do the age old trick of throwing some chocolate pudding in a backpack (and that's it), running down the street, away from home and from life (was that only 10 year old me who did that? Whoops).  You can only run so far because you can't run from what's hurting on the inside.  It's been the first time in years I've looked UP instead of all around, and it's by looking up that God transforms within, and you don't have to run anymore.  He'll run the race of life with you instead, and you get to cast all of your cares upon Him.  Another guess what?  He listens.  Your only task is to run to His arms, and tell Him what the problem is through prayer.  He'll help you find your purpose, promise! (1 Corinthians 9:26)

Image courtesy Pinterest

Sponsor a Child through Compassion, help children near or far find their worth in this life.

You won't be sorry! 

Hugs, 

Alysha M.