Hi all, don’t miss this Sunday morning service. We have a guest who will inspire and encourage you like never before. Michelle Tolentino in a Filipino whose life was changed by Compassion Sponsorship, see the brief story below.
I know I was going to share on my mission trip but that will need to wait as I know you will be blessed by hearing what God has done and doing through this amazing lady.
Michelle’s story…..
Up From Despair
I was born in one of the most congested, crowded places, in the center—okay, the slums—of Manila. With both of my parents jobless, and two younger brothers to provide for, our family could not even afford our own shack. We were forced to live with relatives—seventeen of us staying in a very small shanty.
Food was scarce for us. My mom was forced to beg for food from friends and relatives. Every day outside our shack there would be lots of violence, neighbors fighting in the street. Shirtless men sat drinking alcohol all day, while bored women gambled, oblivious of their naked little children running around and playing in the filthy canals full of raw sewage.
But even worse in that slum was the rampant drug abuse. Like many others, my father was a drug addict himself. Even as a young girl, I knew that my life was hopeless, my future uncertain. I loved my father and thought he was a good man. But one of my earliest memories was waking up one morning to a lot of yelling and fighting inside our house. I heard my relatives cursing my father, accusing him of stealing their valuables in order to buy drugs. My world was shattered as my father was thrown out.
Life only got worse after that. In this pressure cooker of poverty and overcrowding, words flew that were far from kind. I felt so worthless, so vulnerable , that I was nothing and had no future.
The first glimmer of hope came at age six, when my aunt brought me to Calvary Foursquare Church, which had a Compassion Project. From the moment I stepped inside, I knew my life would change. The first thing they taught me in that place was that Jesus loved me. It was a simple but life-changing thought that would affect my whole destiny.
I learned how to pray, to talk to God. I read the Bible. My first-ever Bible was given to me by my Compassion sponsor. It was very precious to me, because I learned through the Scriptures that God was my Father, and I was His precious child. He was a Father to fatherless children like me.
I also felt that great love of my heavenly Father through my loving sponsors’ letters from a world away. Their letters gave me so much encouragement. I remember in the winter of 1995 that they sent me a picture of themselves sitting on a park bench surrounded by snow. I had never seen such a sight. They sent me letters telling me, “Our dear Michelle, you are very beautiful in our eyes. You are very precious to us. We love you. We are praying for you.”
Their words touched the very depth of my heart and soul. God used them in healing my broken self-image and destroyed self-worth. Every time I received their letters, I knew I was loved, I was important, and I was valued. I had a bright future ahead of me in the hands of my loving heavenly Father, who said in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Michelle did indeed have a future. She blossomed, pursued her dreams, and eventually completed a degree in communication arts from one of best universities in the Philippines. She became the Marketing Director of Trumpets, the first-ever theater gospel in Asia. In May 2011, she earned a master’s degree from Moody Theological Seminary (Moody Bible Institute) in Chicago, graduating summa cum laude. She is now a traveling speaker on behalf of children and women at risk.
Michelle has gone back to her roots, using her education and spirit to rescue women trapped the cycle of poverty and exploitation. She founded MADE IN HOPE in 2011, to empower women and children who have been rescued from the global sex trade to break the cycle of exploitation and secure their freedom by providing education, sustainable livelihood opportunities, and care in the healing process. MADE IN HOPE also advocates for the still enslaved, increasing global awareness and mobilizing support. Our mission is founded in the love of Jesus, who, we believe, has a plan for each of us, giving us all a future MADE IN HOPE.
She is also “paying it forward” in other ways, sponsoring two Compassion children on her own. Andrew, from the Philippines, and Samira from Burkina Faso.
She tells her story joyfully now and always includes this line: “I remember Papa Wess telling me, ‘Michelle, you may have been born in poverty, but poverty was not born in you!’”
This is just one of more than two million children worldwide who have graduated from Compassion’s sponsorship over the past sixty years. They’ve all discovered, in one way or another, the amazing power of love.
and bounced his way through the valley.
