Waving hands, kids talking simultaneously, excitement, smiles, and some happy tears. The atmosphere in the room was electric and continued to intensify as almost all of the kids expressed a desire to share a miracle testimony of God’s power working in their lives. “Who would like to share a story of how God has helped them in the past few months?” This one simple question asked by Hrisi, our Children’s Director in Bulgaria, sparked a one-hour conversation among all of the kids during a recent afternoon activity. One by one each child expressed their gratitude to the Lord for His help, provision, healing, and love.
Finally, Mary,* one of the young teen girls who has been in our program for over six years, got up to share her story. For months her bank card had been broken and she couldn’t replace it. She would keep all the pieces together and each time she would go to the bank she would pray that God would somehow make the ATM work when she put the fragile, pieced-together card in to withdraw money. And each time her faith expectations were met with a working card and a correct transaction.
After Mary finished her story, loud cheering and applause followed. All of the kids were so happy to build each other’s faith. They were also grateful for the opportunity to hear about God’s love through our program and to learn how to trust and rely upon Him for all of their needs. It is in moments like these we realize that nothing we are doing is in vain. The seeds of faith, the Bible teachings, the prayers, and the sponsorships are all working together and making a huge impact and a positive difference in the lives of the kids. It gives us the assurance that no matter what life may throw at them, the deposit of God’s truth in their hearts can and will help them.
As you know, trafficking and child abuse are the main reasons we believe the sponsorship programs are of such importance for our kids in Bulgaria. Each year we have kids go missing, get sold by their parents, or become unjustly used for street-begging or slavery work. Sometimes we are able to rescue them and bring them back. But there are times when we, by ourselves, are helpless. Prayer for a miracle intervention in their lives is all we have to lean on…and it is then that we are reminded that no matter where they might be, God is still able to reach them; He is still able to put the broken pieces of their hearts together and to make them whole.
THANK YOU for helping us minister to the forgotten, the poor, and the brokenhearted. The needs may exceed our abilities to meet them, but we must always have eyes to see beyond the masses into each individual person. To every ONE with a need, there is ONE who could choose to meet it!
“To the whole world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the whole world.” – Pastor Bill Wilson, Founder – Metro World Child