A blog I follow

I follow this blog of a woman who lost her baby at birth. (which may seem completely unrelated to this post, but I find it amazing that through all her sorrow and struggles, she is still choosing to live outside of herself!)
She was recently invited to go to India on a trip with Compassion International.
She was at the place where Mother Teresa lived yesterday.
I read her post and literally wept.
My heart resonated with this:
"It's almost easier to ignore the water than to dip your toe in it. Because as soon as you do, you become acutely aware of all the eyes that are looking at you, needing help, and it feels impossible."
That sense of feeling overwhelmed at helpless.
It brought me back to our first day up in the village in Guatemala. We came across this older woman holding a baby. She was so sad. Dr. Hugo was translating and he told us her story. She was now raising this child because the baby's mother (the older woman's daughter) had died shortly after childbirth. Something that would have never happened with appropriate medical attention. They could not get her to a hospital in time. The grandmother was weeping as she shared her story. Dr. Hugo asked me if I'd pray for her and the baby and the rest of her family. I remember barely being able to get the words out. I was sobbing. And hugging her. And just wishing I could go home...to my comfortable house with my healthy children and a hospital close by. I remember saying, "This is the first day. I don't think I'm going to make it through the week." It was overwhelming. And I felt helpless. And the needs seemed so so great. I didn't want to dip my toe in. But it was too late.
To read Angie's whole post, go HERE.
They have names. They all have names. And once you realize that and experience that, you cannot go back. You have to help.
Every one of the 4500 children dying from lack of clean water today has a name.
Every orphan has a name.
And sitting back and pretending the water isn't there is no longer an option for me.
So as she closed her post, I resonated with this, too:
"It has been really easy for me to stay out of the water in a lot of ways, and my own cynicism has kept me safe there. But today, as we stood in a house made of bamboo and clay bricks and watched a woman tell us how Compassion had changed their lives, something in my soul settled.
As we left the second house, I got a couple pictures of the family and I fought back tears as her father adjusted her name tag to make sure her Compassion information was showing.
She had a name.
Compassion International is more than what I imagined. More than my mind would have let me believe. More than I can express to you in this moment of exhaustion."
We can be more, too.
No matter what we choose to do, as long as we choose to do something, we can be more.
I want to be more.