Make Your Mark

You know when something just tugs at your heart-strings? Tugs hard and sharp, like a child's cry. Last night I was reading over at Ann Voskamp's blog, and her heart spills right out on the page. She writes of impact, of our mark on the world. She writes and it grabs me, reaching right for my heart. 

How she loved on a girl - thirty-eight dollars a month and letters sent to Guatemala then kept as if treasure. She sponsored Xiomara and I can see the girl's grin, leaping right off the screen. 

Thirty-eight dollars a month, some prayers and stationary... so little, but God used what Ann had and changed this girl's life. 

And Ann's sentences are the catalyst for Holy Spirit conviction, the words rip out the selfishness, exposing it raw:

     "I know where she slept last night, how she’ll sleep under tin and tarp again tonight. I know how right now a starving child just gurgled their last bloated breath. And by the time I get to the end of my next sentence, another child will starve to death. One every 3.6 seconds. 16 people die every minute because they don’t have enough food. And 3472 pins are pinned every minute to Pinterest." 

So I click her links and find Compassion and stare at the sweet faces, each waiting for someone to give what they have, to be used by our God and to change their lives. Time after time, child after child, I give them what I have. I cry out to God, this deep longing ache. I wish I could sponsor them, hold them, smile with them - something! But thirty-eight dollars a month... and I just give what I have, a hearts-cry strong and deep. I gave what I had, and God will have to do the rest. 

But one more thing before you click my words away. Will you make your mark, give what you have? A sponsorship, a prayer, a commitment to pray. Step on over to Compassion and just give what you have. 

Because, you see, God will use what we give. He can multiply the marks we make. 

What is the product of zero times a million? Zero. But as soon as that nothingness is bumped up to one - one little mark, one little prayer - the equation totals one million. My friends, it's time to make your mark.

(Read Ann's post here, yes?)