You don't have to be rich

Recently, I read an article from one of those magazines you find in the back seat of an airplane. It talked about one woman who took $15,500 and in her own way was changing the world. She used the money to help women in India living on a dump. Yes, literally living on the dump outside Delhi, picking through the trash to feed and support their children. She used that $15,500 to help a group of these mothers open a small grocery store teaching them financial independence. And the money was contingent upon the mothers sending their daughters to school and breaking the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. (American Way, June 1, 2009, p. 96)

This week a friend of mine is leaving for her first international mission trip to Africa with her oldest daughter. A little over one year ago she felt God was leading her to start a small business creating t-shirts and jewelry so she could send the profits to this village in Africa. Now she is getting to see and meet in person those she has been ministering to long distance for over a year.

Yesterday my oldest daughter left for her first mission trip without mom and dad. I only asked her once if she wanted to go to one of the poorest counties in Alabama and work with a church teaching Vacation Bible School and she immediately said yes. Why did she say “yes” to a mission trip so quickly? Why did my friend start a business to help people she doesn’t even know? And why would a woman care if children in another country were educated?

They say “yes” and help and care and love because Jesus loved them first (1 John 4:19). And they say “yes” because they trust God to take their small offering of time or money and turn it into something great.

I am no Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. Right now I doubt I have $5 in my purse! But, these examples and so many others like them remind me that you don’t have to be rich to a make a difference. You don’t have to be rich to change the world.

What are you doing to change the world? How are you helping those in your girls’ ministry this summer to trust God and turn their little into much for Him? What ministries and missions does your church use to love others and make a difference in our world?