My stomach is full (embarrassingly full, at that). I'm sitting in my warm apartment using wireless internet. I just got off the phone with my parents and sister in Illinois and am only feet away from my other sister in the next room. Tomorrow I will be working my second job (just for a little extra money). I am completely healthy. I was able to drive to a friend's house today to share an amazing meal and a lot of laughs.
But as I sit and think of all the blessings in my life, my mind starts to go back to what I read just yesterday...
"Think about your own life. How successful would you or your family have been if you lived in a place where there was no clean water and one-quarter of all children died before their fifth birthday? Imagine growing up constantly weak and malnourished, to the point where both your body and your mind became stunted. What if there had been no health care system, and therefore an abscessed tooth or an ear infection was a death sentence? What if you had lived where you couldn't go to school because you had to fetch water six hours a day-- or where there was no school? Or worse, think about what might have happened to you if rebel armies had sacked your community, killed your parents, and driven you hundreds of miles from your home to live in a refugee camp.
These are the daily realities of the world's poor. No matter how hard they work, how gifted and talented they are, or how big their dreams, the poor have few choices and even fewer opportunities to fulfill their God-given potential. These precious human beings created in God's image have been left behind and cast on the garbage dump of history by circumstances they cannot change." (From The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns)
I thought today was as good a day as any to start doing something about this injustice...
starting with a little girl named Viola...
"Viola lives with her parents, 4 brothers, and 3 sisters. Her parents struggle to provide for the family. Her father is an agriculture worker and her mother is an agriculture laborer. Despite their efforts, it is difficult to meet the family's needs.
Viola and her family live in a community severely affected by the HIV and AIDS crisis. In some communities, AIDS affects the entire social structure as a generation of hardworking adults is being wiped out. Frightened children and exhausted grandparents rarely have money for food, school, or medical care. Through sponsorship, you can help with these and other basic needs for Viola and her family.
Viola is in primary school and she enjoys reading. She helps at home by doing the family chores. She likes to play with dolls. She is in satisfactory health."
I know I can't change the life of every person living in poverty, but I can start with one.
Happy Thanksgiving!
"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed."
-2 Corinthians 9:8
mmm. so much to be thankful for. so so so much. I'm really thankful for YOU, friend. you inspire me.
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