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Good Samaritan Moment
Please don’t just scroll down or skip this blog post. Please take a moment and read about Emma and her story.
Every day we are confronted with the hard.
Every day we see injustice and people hurting.
Every day we have the opportunity to help, to step up, and be a Good Samaritan.
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself, “Which type of person am I?”. The person who crosses to the other side of the street or the person who bends down low to help? As a Christian, we are called to help. We are called to share our plenty.
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 1 John 3:17
Most days we choose to close our eyes, to not read the sad stories. We scroll right on past the story with the little girl hurting. It’s easier to watch the video of the Christmas Jammies. We share that video making it go viral, but we avoid the stories of pain not wanting to damper our moods during the holiday season.
We have tried over and over again to explain to Jasmine what Love Without Boundaries is. We try to explain it to her because it is such a big part of her story. We showed Jasmine her picture yesterday on their site where LWB was celebrating all the children who found forever families. We have explained to her that we were reading the story on their “Featured Child” post and saw her face. LWB was advocating for her because she was about to run out of time. We saw her face. We fell in love. I literally cried tears when I saw her face. We were NOT going to adopt older children. We were already matched with two little girls. Jasmine did not fit into the plans that we had made for our lives, but here we were with our hearts hurting for a little girl half way around the world.
So we show Jasmine the stories on LWB. We show her so she can understand what a miracle it is that God brought us to her. We celebrate with her the children that find families. We cry for those that are trying hard to find their forever families. We pray for the children going into surgery. We cry for the children who die before they were chosen. We talk about what the orphanage was like. We talk about what she felt like waiting. Jasmine knew what family was. She was abandoned right before her eighth birthday. Jasmine knows what it means to sit in an orphanage hurting.
Yesterday LWB shared a story of a little girl named Emma. She is four years old. She has been sitting in an orphanage with a broken leg for months. BUT she doesn’t just have a broken leg. She has a compound fracture, which means there is a bone protruding out of her leg. Let me repeat this SHE IS FOUR. You can discuss who should be caring for her. You can discuss who let her down. You can discuss it being Christmas and money is tight. You can even ignore all of this, but while you do Emma is on the side of the road hurting. Can you even fathom the pain? Let me add to this that they don’t hand out Tylenol or ibuprofen like we do here in the states. There is NO pain control. She is four and she is hurting. Someone brought this little girl’s story to LWB and begged for help. In essence, Emma is on the side of the street, hurting by no fault of her own, and people are walking by.
Have you ever read the story of the Good Samaritan? I mean really read the story? The people who should have helped, passed him on the road. The priest and the Levite passed on the other side of the road. They didn’t just not see him. They crossed to the other side. Men who should have known better. But one man stops. He not only stops, but he puts the hurting man on his donkey. He takes the injured man to the Inn and the Samaritan pays for the hurting man to stay there.
Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. We ask for qualifiers. Who do we have to help? Who is our brother? Who is our neighbor? But Jesus says, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Luke 10:36
He brings it back to us. We are supposed to be the neighbor. We are supposed to help. Jasmine heard the story and said, “I want to help her mama.” Jasmine asked her brothers and sisters to give up some things for Christmas. I woke up this morning with Emma on my heart. It is 4 a.m. I’ve had a hard couple of days. I would much rather be sleeping, but I felt prompted to write this for Jasmine. She wants to help Emma. So I decided to write this blog and then I opened the LWB page, I clicked on the donate here button, and I donated in honor of Jasmine. My little girl who when asked what she wants for Christmas responds with, “I no want nothing mama. I ask for a family. I have a family. I have love.” Jasmine gets it. She’s been here seven months and she gets what is really important.
So I ask, “Who could you do the same thing for? Who doesn’t really need another tie or sweater or oven mitt? Who could you donate $20 dollars in the name of? Who could you bless with the gift of helping Emma and thereby bestow the label “Good Samaritan” on? Whose day would that make?”
I’ve seen it happen over and over again. A story really touches people and people give. Let’s do this for Emma. I mean really….look at this face. Let’s send a little Christmas cheer to a hurting girl half-way around the world. LWB – Emma’s Story
