Don't forget those who feel forgotten

Many families across the world will gather together over the next several days to celebrate Christmas. They will be celebrating the birthday of Jesus. Others will gather together to celebrate Santa Claus and all that entails. However, there are others that will be alone, who have nothing and will get nothing. Some will go hungry, will be dealing with a death in the family, or are in a desperate situation and have no hope. These are the people I want us to remember this Christmas, as we gather around our loved ones and celebrate in whatever way that we do. There are so many in this world who are hurting and feel forgotten. Yesterday we got news that one of our pastor's little 1 year old baby had died. So today we traveled an hour past our house to go and visit this dear family. This is the story we heard. This family had 3 children sick with malaria at the same time. The parents took them all to the hospital which is about 20 miles from their home. While there, they all needed a transfusion but the doctor could not find a vein on the baby. This little baby died. The oldest son has been released, but the mother is still at the hospital with the other child, and they had to bury the baby there at the hospital. Hopefully, they will be able to come home in the next couple of days. We were only able to visit with the father and some of the other family members. We took a bag of mealie meal to the family to help out and while we were there we tried to encourage the family, and of course pray for them. The mother and her baby were faithful to come to every women's meeting when I was teaching at Kamilulu Baptist Church. The father is the pastor of that church and one of the leaders in that association. Please pray for the Daka family as they deal with this loss at this time.

So many times we tend to focus on ourselves and our immediate family during the holidays. This was a good wake up call for us. We need to keep our eyes off of ourselves and keep them focused on Jesus and pray that He will open our eyes to those around us who are hurting.