Monday, August 25, 2008

One Last Letter to a Child

I know I have been strangely absent here. It would take a bit to explain. This blog has been such a place of health for me that even the doctor I see for depression asks if I've been blogging as a measure of how well or not well I'm doing. She called it "the canary in the coal mine" test. It comes from an old mining custom of trying to see if the mines were safe. Given that my mother's father was a coal miner, it seems somehow appropriate. Anyway, gases were invisible and often deadly. To safe guard the miners, they would lower a canary or other small bird down into the mine first and then pull it back up. If it survived it was safe to go down into the mines.

Blogging today is my effort to make that canary sing in the depths of the mine. But over the last week, I've felt as if my words have left me.

I don't really want to dwell on the specifics of everything. But I did want to ask you a totally unrelated question. I've been sponsoring Delia through Compassion. The end of July I got the sad news that Delia had left the program.(Click here for a specific post about that.) But since that day, I've gotten two more letters from her. One was dated the end of April. The one I got today was dated July 16th.

I called Compassion today and asked if I might send her one last letter.

I am pleased to be able to do this, but unsure of what to say and where to begin. So, if you were a child of 11 and were to receive one last letter from your sponsor, what would be most helpful to hear? Putting it another way, what would your heart cry out to share with a child if you had one more chance to share your heart with without overwhelming her?




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5 comments:

Joyful said...

Tough question Amy. I think if I was a little girl I'd want to know that someone is still going to remember me...that I'm not forgotten. Does this little girl know that it wasn't your choice to let her go as your sponsored child? I'd probably want to encourage this little one that God will never leave her and that He loves her so.

We lost our little sponsored child as well. Praying for you. Praying also that God is going to give you a new song to sing.
Blessings,
Joy

Amy L Brooke said...

I am not sure what Delia knows about the why of her not being in the Compassion program. The little I know is that it was her parents' choice.

But I probably will not dwell on that. I do want her to know that she will be remembered and prayed for.

cautious1 said...

I think you answered your own question by stating that "I do want her to know that she will be remembered and prayed for". Despite the reasons that she is no longer in the program, I would encourage you to let her know that you will continue to pray for her. Also, remind her that God loves her and that through Him all things are possible. I would also want to include one of your favorite Bible verses or one that best fits your relationship with her or the situation.
I pray that God will continue to help you through this difficult time and that you will soon find the words that are escaping you.

Anonymous said...

I will be praying for you during this time... as you could tell from my sight, i am struggling as well. It helps me though to pray for someone else...
Love you,
Heather

Kelly said...

Hi, I just came over via Leila's blog! I wanted to tell you that I agree that just telling Delia that you love her and will be praying for her is a wonderful thing for her to read from you. We have two Compassion girls, one lives in Ethiopia. A team from our church went to Ethiopia this summer on a missions/adoption ministry outreach, and I sent a package for Welella, our 17 year old sponsored child, as the team had contacts with the Compassion field people and they were hopeful they could deliver my package to her.
Well, unfortunately, they weren't able to, but something else happened just as good. They went to an orphanage and gave my package (new tee shirt, nail files, body spray and lotion, stickers, nail clippers, etc.) to a girl the same age. The girl cried and hung onto the neck of my church friend, and said "I have never in all my life received such nice things". I was so happy to hear that the package got to someone who really was overjoyed to get it. Yet a part of me hung my head, just thinking how something like that would mean very little to me in America, with all my excess stuff, but meant everything to her. Anyone, putting that thought aside, I just wanted you to know that your package for Delia that you sent might not make it to her, but if it gets to another child, I think God will use it to bless that child instead. Just an encouragement!
God Bless,
Kelly