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Vanna
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| Posted: Aug 30 2008 at 9:49am | IP Logged
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and shook me last night.
Has that ever happened to you? You are just going along with life and then BAM! God yells, "Snap out of it!" right in your ear.
Did anyone see the Dateline expose on the institutions in Serbia last night? I have never in my life been so horrified. There is no way for me to describe the situations these poor people are living in.
In Serbia, people are strongly encourage (pretty much forced in some cases) to give their handicapped (it could be anything from blindness to Down Syndrome to mental handicaps) children and adults to these state run institutions. These people are kept in iron cribs, given the minimum amount of care and left there until they die. There were grown men living in child-sized cribs. There were teenagers the size of malnourished toddlers. Children and adults were tied to beds for hours and days at a time. Children were permenantly contorted into unnatural positions due to being left in cribs for their entire lives. Everyone was so emanciated that they looked like concentration camp victims...and I guess they were. This is Serbia's Holocaust. Cleansing their country of people that aren't "perfect". I did wonder why OUR country is not doing something about this. We will go to war over the price of a barrell of oil but not to save hundreds and hundreds of helpless, tortured people???
I felt God shake me. I felt God convict me of my greed and selfishness. While I wish and dream for stupid material possessions, a fixed up house, newer cars, etc etc...there are people who would KILL for the food that I just put down for my dog to eat. In the winter, I complain that my old house is drafty and that I have to throw a few more blanket on the kids so they don't get cold. How many people watch their children freeze to death because they don't have any shelter at all and would love to have just one of my many, many blankets?
I guess I'm trying to say is..God forgive me. You have given me so much. Thank you.
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Wife to K  Mommy to B (ds18) and G (ds8)
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Michaela
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| Posted: Aug 30 2008 at 3:05pm | IP Logged
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I didn't see last night's Dateline episode, Vanna, but it has either previously aired or I've seen something similar. I've also wondered why our country doesn't do more for the countries that have nothing to offer (oil), but desperately need help. No politics, but the amount of money spent each day on this "conflict" is mind boggling!
Yes, when I see something like that I am thankful for what I have...it could be worse...
give thanks in all circumstances -- 1 Thessalonians 5:18
This quote came to mind after reading your post:
I cried every day for a new pair of shoes until I saw a man with no feet.
No matter how bad we believe our current circumstance to be (finances, health, family...you name it) there is someone who has it worse.
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Michaela
Momma to Nicholas 16, Nathan 13, Olivia 13, Teresa 6, & Anthony 3
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Michaela
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| Posted: Aug 30 2008 at 3:20pm | IP Logged
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Oh, Vanna, after posting I remembered something that happened to me while out shopping with my children. It was during a time that I was really down about moving to WA from Vegas...renting my mom's place. Boo hoo me.
Our Lord decided to shake me up. Time to get over myself. 
I may have shared this already.....We were in a little grocery store, and I needed to pick up milk and a case of drinks or bag of ice. I don't even remember the items (because that's not what sticks in my mind), but they were large, heavy items.
A man & I started a little conversation while waiting for our children to grab ice cream cones. My children wanted me to carry the ice cream cones in addition to everything else I had (no handbasket)....so trying to be funny or snarky or something  I said, "I only have two hands!"
At that exact moment, I look down and saw that the man only had one.  
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Michaela
Momma to Nicholas 16, Nathan 13, Olivia 13, Teresa 6, & Anthony 3
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insegnante
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| Posted: Aug 30 2008 at 3:36pm | IP Logged
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Have you read Happy Are You Poor by Fr. Thomas Dubay? It might be helpful food for thought if you find yourself wondering how you should live your daily life in light of the suffering of others such as you describe.
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Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
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crusermom
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| Posted: Aug 30 2008 at 5:33pm | IP Logged
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I know I get a reality check on my whining and pettiness whenever I go to the hospital here on post where they have the burn unit for the soldiers. Especially hard is when I see a female soldier - burn victim or amputee or both.
The frustrating thing with Romania is you can't just go and "rescue" them.
Mary
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Mary
Army wife and Crusermom to 8 wonderful children!
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: God grabbed me by the shoulders...
