An Inspiring Day

I've been here for a little over 3 weeks now. Compassion International is an incredible place to work. Each day I spend here, I'm inspired more. It's not a rare occurrence to randomly start crying during my workday because of the magnitude of what we're doing here.

I feel like yesterday especially was an inspiring day. We had the amazing opportunity to hear 2 influential world changers speak. First, we (the interns) had a meeting with Wess Stafford, the CEO of Compassion International. As he shared his testimony and his heart for children in poverty, he had nearly every girl in the room in tears. His passion for what he does is amazing, and anyone who encounters him can see the joy he has from God. His book, Too Small To Ignore, tells a lot of what he shared with us. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

That afternoon, we heard from Gary Haugen, the CEO of IJM (International Justice Mission). IJM is an organization commited to eliminating injustice around the world. Some of the things he spoke of were so hard to believe. He told of widows getting their land taken away from them, leaving them without any means of providing for their children; orphans living on the streets, getting beaten and bullied by government officials...the very people who were appointed to protect them; girls who were promised a job in a nearby town, only to discover that they were being sold into the world of sex trafficing; and young boys who were forced into slavery, having to work 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. I found myself getting furious about these terrible acts of crime, and as I sat there I continued to cry for the better part of his talk. I cried for the child on the streets with nowhere to turn, for the widow who has to sit there and watch as her children suffer from hunger, for the girls who unknowingly get trapped in a world of rape and abuse, and for the children who worked harder and longer than any adult ever has to work in the United States.

These things shouldn't be happening, especially to people so undeserving of it. Thankfully, all of the stories he told had a happy ending. The lawyers at IJM were able to convict the criminals and free the victims from their terrible situations. It is organizations like IJM and Compassion that are changing the world daily, but there is still so much to be done.

Being here has so clearly confirmed God's calling on my life. My passion for relieving children from terrible situations and showing them the hope and love of Jesus Christ grows stronger every day. I now know that God has placed me here to see a glimpse of what the rest of my life is going to look like. There is no way I could sit back and do nothing. The world needs change, and I will be a part of creating that change.