The internet has brought to my attention causes and needs that I would have never known had I not been online. My heart breaks as I hear stories of starving children, women and children sold into slavery, disease-ravaged villages, and so on…

I want to help everyone. Everywhere. I want to volunteer and fundraise and donate to all the good causes. And my heart is so full when I do.

Knowing about the needs of so many in our world is good, and I’m grateful for the platform the internet provides for these causes, but I find myself overwhelmed by it all.

We sponsor a Compassion child. I’ve bought items through fashionABLE in order to help women in Africa earn a living. I’ve donated to the film campaign of a young man making an important Christian movie. And it goes on from there.

I don’t tell you all of this to brag on what I’ve done. I find no pride in donating or volunteering. I mostly find joy, but lately I’ve also found guilt. Each time I blog about an organization or cause I feel passionate about, I find out about another amazing group helping people in amazing ways and I want to help them, too. Pretty soon, the sharing and donating and volunteering becomes more of a burden than a joy.

I’m not sure I even know what to tell you in this area because it is such a personal thing, but I know that I need to do a lot more praying before I jump in to support every cause I fall in love with.

We all wish we had more money or time or energy to help those in need, but maybe we need to spend the time we have asking God where He wants us doing His work before we dive into a million things and become overwhelmed in the process.

It has also become very tempting to contribute to many causes because you can “Get a free t-shirt” or “Win a free missions trip!” I think these are good things to help raise awareness about real needs. I’ve actually discovered projects that I became very passionate about because of offers such as these. But if we’re drawn to a cause because of the free stuff and not because God is calling us to help in that area, is that really helping anyone?

In this age of information overload, we must guard our hearts from feeling guilty because we can’t volunteer for every worthy cause. God has a specific place and way to serve for each of us. This is the beauty of the BODY of Christ, each doing our own part, not everyone doing everything.

Don’t stop doing good things because of this post. Just do what He has called you to do and resist the urge to take on anything else, including guilt.

Are you ever overwhelmed by all the causes and organizations and needs in this world? Have you found a cause that has your full devotion?