Shoes to Fill

She knew the shoes were too big, but she couldn’t resist. The shoes’ owner was a giant in her life – taking care of their family, working tirelessly for very little, scooping her up for a big hug in their dirt-floor home with worn hands after a long day of labor. Because of the person who wore those shoes, she knew love.

Things were rough – food was scarce, clothing was tattered, beds were hard – but she also knew they could be worse without the owner of those big shoes she had slipped her feet into.

And because of the local Compassion center, she also knew things could and would get better. So she put on the shoes and dreamed. Her thoughts drifted to Jesus, the man who had loved her enough to die for her. She knew what sacrifice looked like, but not this kind. Because of Compassion, she knew Jesus, and because of Jesus, she had hope.

Her hope wasn’t just of the eternal kind, although she knew that was the most important part. She also had hope for her own future, her family’s future, her community’s future. Learning and growing, she knew that her own life could make a difference in this world for His name.

She had seen this kind of difference in her world because the owner of the shoes made sacrifices out of love for her and her family, even when things seemed bleak. She wanted to fill those shoes someday, taking care of others, bringing hope, all for His glory.

Her feet dangled above that dirt floor, shoes swinging back and forth until they fell off, and she smiled…

*****

I couldn’t help but think of Maureen when writing this.

I don’t know about her full background in the Compassion program, but I do know that she came out of a Compassion leadership program as a strong, confident woman. And as she now serves as the director at Mercy House Kenya, I wonder who she looked up to as a young girl. Who planted the seeds of hope in her heart? What led her from a life of a poverty to a life of loving and serving others facing severe hardships?

I truly believe Compassion makes a difference. For children, for families, for communities, for the Kingdom.

Please consider sponsoring a child and make this dream a reality for a child. I want to urge you to look at the older children, especially ones who have been waiting more than a year to be sponsored {you can sort the photos by age or longest wait}. Show them that someone cares and hope is not gone.