Nine years ago, we joined the Christian Foundation for the Children and Aging. It is an organization that makes it possible for you to not only support a child in need overseas but to write them, exchange letters, and get to know them as a person not a charity case. It was after church when we approached the table spread out with photo files of all the children and elderly in need of a sponsor. I was immediately drawn to Lydia. She was eight years old and lived in Kenya. My own son was eight years old, too, so it was like having another daughter.
Lydia started sending me little notes very soon and told me about her dreams, how she was doing in school, and thanking me because our $30 a month was providing her with an education and food for her family. Very humbling when you think how little we stretch $30 over here!
By the time Lydia was sixteen, she had grown into a tall, beautiful girl with such dreams and we felt so proud of her and happy with our ability to have become an asset in her life. She was the oldest of eight so had the double responsibility of being a help to her family and doing well in school.
Last February, I got a telephone call from the foundation with the shocking news that Lydia had died suddenly. She had taken ill at school and went home early. She got worse during the evening and by the time they reached the parking lot of the hospital, she was dead. They think it might have been her appendix but it hardly matters after the fact. I still keep her letters and her picture is still on the refrigerator. It is amazing how a little girl in Kenya made such a difference in our lives.
I was just thinking about Lydia, today. She didn't reach her dreams on earth but I think Heaven will increase in glory having her there!
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