Thankfulness, Day Three: Letters.

Five years ago, I embarked on a journey that, while a small part of my life, would change me.

Five years ago, I decided to sponsor a child in another country.

Five years ago, I pored through the Compassion International website until I found my child.

Five years ago, I received my first letter from a little girl in northern Thailand. Her favorite color is blue, she said, and she loved art class. She drew me a picture of her house, with the sun in the corner. She wants to be a teacher someday.

Five years later, my heart burst with joy as I opened yet another letter from Aoy. She tells me that she learned about Valentine's Day this year at her project site, and about love. She talks about God's love, and her mother's love, and my love.

This teenager, now fifteen years old, has never met me in person. I don't know if that will ever happen, as much as I would love it. But she knows that I love her like a sister. She knows that I pray for her, and she prays for me. She knows that we look at the same moon every night, and that I think of her often.

 A Prayer for Aoy:

Good and Gracious God,

You have held Aoy in the palm of your hand from before the foundation of the world. You have provided for her and her family in radical and unexpected ways, and you changed two lives when you brought us together as sisters in Christ. Continue to provide for her, Lord, as you always have. Help me to be the best sister to her that I can be from such a distance. Send your Spirit to equip her family and teachers to show her more and more every day of who you are, that she might grow to know you in a deep and lasting way.

In your name,

Amen.