A must-read book!

I just finished reading There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene and it was one of those books that I could just.not.put.down! I'm still sitting here in shock after learning so many devastating things and reading so many heart-breaking stories from Ethiopia. It was one of those books that challenged me in so many ways, but then again, I don't believe there's any point in being challenged if it doesn't result in a change in my life.

Well, first of all, let me tell you a little about the book. It is a true story about an Ethiopian woman who chose to open up her home to hundreds of AIDS orphans when nobody else would. She even took in children who tested positive for HIV in a country where HIV/AIDS is taboo and something you don't talk about much less actually care about the people who are infected with it. This woman was just an ordinary woman, she just chose not to ignore the devastation all around her, but to actually do something about it. As a result of her life, many child's lives were spared.

God used this book to speak to our hearts in such a profound way!

Yes, I knew about AIDS in Africa and yes, I knew that people were dying. We see it and hear it on the news, but sometimes I think we are numb to it. Do we really know that a whole generation is dying off and their children our being left without parents? Do we really understand that? If we really know that, how can we sit back and do nothing? It has been said that Africa is a continent of orphans.





Proverbs 24:12 - Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?

This book was also very educational and talked a lot about the history of Ethiopia and the history of AIDS. Do you know that HIV is considered a chronic yet manageable disease? It's not the death sentence it once used to be. With treatments, patients who have HIV can live long, healthy lives without ever developing AIDS. But that is not true for millions of men, women, and children in Ethiopia that have HIV. They don't have access to the treatments that will save their lives.

There are just so many thoughts running through my head, it's hard to put it all into words.

If I believe God's heart is to care for the poor, the sick, the prisoners, the dying, the oppressed, the widows, the orphans, like it mentions so many times in the Bible, then what am I really doing
to help care for them?