Couple months ago, I blogged about a fictional book I read titled,
A Cup of Friendship. The main character is a single woman from America that runs a coffee shop in the heart of Afghanistan. I love this woman. She is strong and fearless and compassionate. The part that touched me the most was in the beginning of the story. She walks into the local Womens Center, and while she's there, she notices a dirty, beaten-up young woman pleading for a place to stay. (She was a young widow sold to the "Mafia" as payment for her uncle's debt owed to them. But they beat her up and dumped her on the side of the road because they found out she was pregnant. Meaning, she's utterly worthless.) She had no family, no money, no home. She was an unmarried woman with child, and that was the ultimate shame. And she looked for help from the agency that supposedly supports women like this. Yet all they could offer her was one night stay, but then they'd have to kick her out into the streets. And from there, her only option was to be someone's slave or prostitute...or just be killed.
And that's when my hero steps in. She takes this desperate young woman into her home and gives her a job in her coffee shop, all the while knowing that an unmarried pregnant woman brings shame not just upon herself, but for everyone associated. Taking in this woman could have ruined her business and put their very lives in danger. But my hero takes the risk because her compassion runs deep, and she values this woman's life even though everyone in society spits on her or wants her dead. She gives her hope and a future.
I want to be a woman like that. In the very core of my being, I want to be a woman like that. She reminds me of the mom (Sandra Bullock's character) in
The Blind Side. If you've seen the movie, you know what I mean. Ahhh, that stuff really gets me. I want to be an instrument of God's hope and healing, but sometimes I wonder if my heart has the capacity to give like that. God hasn't given me such an opportunity yet, but I hope--I HOPE!--God will prepare me for that day.
