Challenge
Goal: 100 People to Join Give 1 Help One by Giving Tuesday
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“And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” - Luke 2:1-4
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The article below is written by Lauren Reesor. As a high school Chick-fil-A employee, Lauren donated to help several adopting families bring home their children. Now as a college freshman, Lauren has joined the Give 1 Help One Campaign to help even more children have a family. Lauren’s perspective on adoption and giving are truly inspiring!
Join Lauren this Giving Tuesday by participating in the Give 1 Help One Campaign. For the cost of one cup of coffee, you, like Lauren, can change a child’s life forever.
Lauren's Story:
My story with adoption began around seven years ago when I was eleven and my parents
brought my first sister, Lili, home from China in 2013. That little girl absolutely changed my life. Knowing that her physical disabilities wouldn’t inhibit her from doing anything she wanted to do with her life, now that she had a forever family, showed me how rewarding, worthwhile, and important international adoptions are.
We started our second international adoption in 2014, and my family really didn’t know how we were going to pay for this one that we felt so called to do. By the grace of God, Connected Hearts Ministry helped us raise at least more than half of the funds for my sister Lia’s adoption, and we got to bring her home around Christmas of 2015.
"Without Connected Hearts Ministry’s heart for orphan care and their passion to bring children home to caring families, we really would not have been able to bring Lia home."
What was really amazing and heartwarming about Lia’s adoption was how many people gave to our fundraisers so that she could come home. Insituations like these, every $5 or $10 counts, and the numerous “little” gifts we got really added up.
When a couple from our church started the process to adopt a little boy from India a few months ago, Connected Hearts began helping them raise the funds necessary to bring their boy home. I knew I had to donate, even though as a then-employee of Chick Fil A, it’s not like I was making the big bucks. I donated maybe $15 or $20, and, to be honest, that felt kind of silly to me. I knew how expensive international adoptions could be, and I didn’t really think my small donation would even make a dent.
"But at the end of the day, if everyone who feels led would donate whatever they’re able to, no matter their own financial situation, it not only adds up to more than anyone could imagine, but it also shows the adoptive families how many people are behind them and supporting them through this process."
Something that still encourages me whenever I donate little bits to adoption fundraisers or charities is the story of the widow’s offering in Mark 12. Now, by no means am I suggesting everyone give absolutely every penny they have to their church or an adoption fundraiser or anything like that. But I am saying that if you only have $5 left at the end of the month and you choose to give it to Connected Hearts, don’t ever feel silly like I did, or like your donation doesn’t matter.
"Not only does every donation mean the world to the families you donate to, but it is pleasing to the eyes of God, not because of how much you gave, but because of how much it meant and how much you sacrificed to give that away."
In light of that verse, I want to call everyone, especially other high school and college students like myself, to really challenge yourselves in generosity and look into Connected Hearts’ “Give one Help One” Campaign. For $1 a week (one of your favorite Starbucks coffees a month), you can help give a child a forever family.
As much as I know the struggles of being a broke high school/college student, I also know that for most of us we can certainly buy one less coffee a month or, in my case, one less soda a week to instead give towards a charity whose passion is giving children a loving family forever. (That is why I joined the Give 1 Help One Campaign.) I pray that you challenge yourself in giving, and that God through this campaign not only brings more children home, but grows the hearts of donors towards worshipping him through giving sacrificially.
Please take the time to really consider setting aside at least $1 a week towards Connected Hearts Ministry to help give God’s children a home.
God Bless,
-Lauren Reesor
Click below to join Lauren this Giving Tuesday by participating
in the Give 1 Help One Campaign.
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