Almost four years ago, I wrote a post called "My Children are Not Cheerful Givers." I am writing today to give testimony of how God has worked and is working in the hearts of my children since then and I will continually pray for my children to be rich in good deeds, generous, and always willing to share (1 Timothy 6:18). I also pray for my children to develop servant's hearts so they will always serve the Lord wholeheartedly (Ephesians 6:7).
In the picture above, my daughter Kaitlyn is using her own birthday money to pay for items to fill a box for Operation Christmas Child. Her birthday is November 11th and once she counted all her birthday money she asked me if $70 would be enough to fill a box. I assured her it would be MORE than enough.
My other two children are giving more on their own as well. Each year at Christmas time we fill boxes for Operation Christmas Child and purchase items through Gospel for Asia's Christmas catalog. There are also opportunities for the children to give and serve through an annual Feed the Hungry event our church does, and other various missions projects and offerings.
Simply making my children more aware of the needs around them locally and around the globe has helped open their eyes to see true needs and the Lord working on their hearts has prompted them to have a desire to do what they can. I don't want my children to give and serve out of guilt, but rather out of a genuine desire to care for others in need. Helping my children see things from an eternal perspective has also helped them. When they fill a shoe box or send some chickens to a family in Asia, they pray for the person who receives their gift to understand their need for Jesus, accept Him into their lives, and tell others about Him.
How do you teach your children to have the heart of a servant and to be cheerful givers?
3 comments:
I agree. We fill shoeboxes and sponsor a child through Compassion and pray for needs around the world. It makes the kids much more aware and much more willing to be givers.
Leah, we also sponsor a child, but our child is a Bridge of Hope child, which is a program through Gospel for Asia. We have written our child a couple times and he's even written us back once so far. We just started sponsoring in April of this year. Have you all received any letters from your Compassion child? I know many people do. Both organizations do a wonderful job taking care of these children through our gifts (Compassion and GFA).
We do receive letters. I love that. He'll send us pictures he's drawn and a Bible verse he's written each time. I think it's a great idea for helping our kids see the world beyond themselves.
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