Last week, I was working the Compassion table at a leadership event. On the second morning, a woman came by and was looking at the child packets that were laid out on the table.

After a bit of time, I heard her say, “I can’t find Joy! She was here last night when I was looking at the children on the table.”

I had to let her know that maybe Joy was sponsored the previous night. So the woman kept looking at the children and I encouraged her to open the packets and read more information about the children on the inside of the packet.

She found one little girl from the Philippines and began reading. Then she said, “This girl is from the community that I am from!”

Even though this woman couldn’t find Joy, she found the one child that God knew she would need to sponsor.

Way back, when we started volunteering at Compassion events, we would be asked how people decide which child to sponsor. It wasn’t until my son and I went on our first Compassion sponsor trip, that I realized we are not the ones with the ultimate decision on which child to sponsor. We may think we are deciding, but I truly believe that God already knows which child each family needs to sponsor.

At this same event, I even found a new child to sponsor.

I wasn’t looking to sponsor a new child. But when I saw his birthday, I knew I needed to add him to my Compassion family. My daughter’s birthday is on December 6th, I read that he likes math, and I just received my first letter from his mom and she wrote that he likes the color blue. I loved math in school and blue is also my favorite color!

There are times when it is hard to find joy as we live through many of the challenges of this life. But I am thankful for the many reminders that God places in our life to keep our focus on Him.

Over the last two years, I have missed working at Compassion events, seeing kids be sponsored, and having great conversations with people about how Compassion is working to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

I pray we are moving into a time where more events will be held and I can help more people find a child that will be a reminder of the joy that can be found when we invest into the lives of others.