This One's Mine/Spoken For

I sponsor two girls through Compassion International.  I had the great privilege of meeting them last November when I traveled to Uganda.  Each girl came with one adult chaperone from their school.  One of the chaperones asked me how I chose my girls.  She wasn't sure of the process...did I have a choice of the child I would sponsor?  How could I look at photo after photo of children in need and pick these two specifically?

I explained to her that the youngest girl, Specioza who is 13, was originally picked by a friend and he sponsored her as a gift to me.  He paid, I corresponded with her.  Then I explained that if you go onto Compassions website you can search by country, gender, age, need, etc but I knew I wanted another child in Uganda so that part was easy.  I chose to view the children from oldest to youngest and that's when I saw Florence, who at the time was 19.

Florence, me, Specioza.  Happiest day of my life!

I just knew that she was mine.  I literally said out loud, "This one's mine."

Months later, I heard this MercyMe song for the first time and I couldn't believe it when I heard the exact same words used as God declares each one of us as His.

To hear you say, "This one's mine." My heart is spoken for.

Tears come to my eyes each time I hear this line.

I know how much love I have for those girls.  Just by seeing a photo, I knew she was meant for me.  She was meant to be my sponsored child.  How much more then does God love me...after all, He didn't just see a photo-He CREATED me.  And He looks on me (and you) and says, "This one's MINE."

Gives me chills.

Don't even get me started on the line, "Now I have a peace, I've never known before" That could be a whole post on its own.