Wake up.

Sunday morning I woke up in terrible mood. It was just one of those 'woke up on the wrong side of the bed' mornings. I found myself feeling pretty down and went to Church feeling terrible. I didn't really have a reason to feel the way I felt, so like most people do, I tried to find out what was my problem was. In my heart I started to complain about things that were going on in my life and how "hard" life can be. I was pretty much throwing myself a pity party for no apparent reason.

While I was sitting on my seat, feeling this way, a little girl came and sat next to me. Worship began and I just began to pray. While I was praying the Lord opened my eyes to the little girl that was sitting next to me. I had known her for quite sometime now. Ted and Lisa Hojara have been helping out her family for about a year now...the little girls mother was diagnosed with AIDS about 7 months back.

It was then and there that it hit me. This little girl, only about 5 years old, is going through SO much right now. Her mom, the only parent she has in her life, is dying from AIDS and there is nothing anyone can do about it. When her mom dies...she's going to be an orphan. It just killed me and I was struck with conviction. I had been complaining about how "hard" my life was when this little girl, that was sitting RIGHT next to me, is losing her mother at the age of five. Who am I to be complaining? Who am I to feel down when I have everything that I could ever need and want? The Lord has blessed me with an amazing family and a mom that is a walking miracle. I have absolutely NOTHING in the world to complain about.

I was overcome with a emotion when the Lord opened my eyes to reality. I grabbed the litttle girl, whose name is Norvely, and hugged her as tight as I can. I held her in my arms for the rest of Worship and just prayed that Jesus would do a work in her life.

It's these moments that I will never forget. I've realized that when you pray to the Lord to open your eyes, it's like He's waiting for you to ask that. He wants to open our eyes to the things around us, it just comes to getting past ourselves and asking the Lord to show us the needy through HIS eyes. We just have to be prepared to be shaken up, though.