What does being thankful mean to you?
By Sheryl Martin Hash | Guest Blogger
“You ought to be thankful a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you’re lucky you’re not!” ~ Dr. Seuss
Do you sometimes struggle to think of things for which to be grateful?
We usually rattle off that we’re thankful for our families, our jobs, our health and so on. But when we as Americans live in the land of opportunity – where with hard work and determination, we can be anything we want to be – do we get what it means to be truly thankful?
A study conducted by Harris Poll revealed an interesting result about Americans’ lack of gratitude. The poll found that 92 percent of Americans believe the holidays are a time to be thankful for friends and family. However, one in five confessed they tend to be more thankful for material possessions than people. As disturbing as that may sound, it’s not exactly surprising.
Seeing poverty up close
Unless we have experienced poverty – gone hungry for days, had no access to medical care, couldn’t afford school, lacked job skills – it can be difficult to offer more than lip service for our blessings.
But a visit to Africa taught me what it meant to be genuinely grateful.
When you see abject poverty firsthand, it changes you forever. Witnessing women and children living in cardboard shacks and corrugated metal lean-tos is an image that sears your brain. Seeing children using plastic soda bottles tied to their feet for shoes makes a lasting impression. Watching kids play games with rocks and sticks in the dirt road while raw sewage runs down either side is a haunting sight I’ll never forget.
And that’s when it hit me: I was getting a glimpse into these children’s future. They were destined to live in poverty for the rest of their lives. And most likely, their children would continue in that cycle of poverty. Education was their only way out of this destitute life.
Being born in the U.S., it’s hard for me to relate to the lives of these impoverished people. I had the privilege of a middle-class childhood, I grew up in church, received a good education and secured a job I loved. But I can feel compassion for them – especially when I see the hopelessness in the eyes of the mothers. I wonder … did these women start out with the same hopes for their children as most mothers? Did they dream of their kids having a better future?
Sadly, the reality for the people I met, along with millions more, is they don’t have time for dreams. They simply must focus on trying to survive from one day to the next. And without access to medical care, something as simple as diarrhea can be a death sentence.
A “God thing”
I understood then what a ripple effect poverty has on these communities. When young people don’t have the opportunity to attend school, their days are usually spent in one of two ways: finding a menial job to help support their families, or falling prey to temptations such as drugs, trafficking and gangs.
Young girls who find themselves pregnant – often as a result of rape – are customarily banished from their households and left to wander the streets. They have no education, no job skills, no life skills and no way to take care of themselves or their unborn babies. Many consider abortion as their only alternative. Those who decide to keep their baby must rely on traditional midwives to help them through labor – a decision that can cost them their lives. (See “Abuse of women during childbirth still happens”)
Tears ran down my cheeks as I heard a group of young men laughing as they made plans to sleep with virgins to cure their HIV/AIDS – a “cure” often prescribed by witch doctors. Would the young women they chose end up pregnant and be forced out of their homes? Would they seek abortions?
I came away broken for these people. I vowed to never again take for granted the country I live in or the many luxuries I enjoy. Something as simple as clean running water from the faucet is a convenience these men and women will never know.
I am fortunate to have worked for an international missionary-sending agency where I had the opportunity to learn more about people and cultures other than my own. I particularly fell in love with Africa – the people, the scenery, the music, the culture. I became invested in helping hurting people there, especially women.
That’s why I knew meeting Julie Mad-Bondo when I moved back home to Lynchburg was a “God thing.” Julie is passionate about helping meet needs in Africa – especially for women and children in East Africa and Central African Republic (CAR). She has a vision for establishing safe birthing centers for expectant mothers, resource centers that would offer tailoring and discipleship classes, and a self-sustainability initiative that empowers girls academically, provides programs for job skills training and offers classes in literacy, personal finance, infant nutrition and more. Her donors recently helped fund a youth-at-risk home where teenagers can live, attend school and be discipled in God’s Word.
Things for which to be grateful
So, this Thanksgiving, as my family sits around the table and we each mention what we are thankful for, Julie’s Heart Cry ministry will be on my list. As Julie works to find creative and cost-effective ways to meet physical and spiritual needs, she especially has a heart for saving the lives of the unborn. A visit to the ministry’s website (juliesheartcry.org) quickly reveals her passion for helping restore dignity and independence to impoverished women.
I hope the circumstances I’ve shared here will cause you to have a deeper appreciation for God’s blessings in your life. As you pray, please remember Julie, this ministry and the lives it touches. I pray you will be stirred to action with a tax-deductible gift of $15, $25, $50 or more before year’s end as the ministry focuses on building birthing centers.
And I pray none of us has to ever struggle again to think of things for which to be truly thankful.
