Reality

(I wrote the following for our Women's Ministry newsletter and thought I would post it here as well)

There are numerous shows tagged as Reality Shows. They seem to attract millions of viewers all over the world. In most Reality Shows, life situations are played out and filmed as entertainment for TV viewers. Most shows present a challenge and reward the strongest player.

“Survivor,” a popular reality show, challenges a few brave men and women to put their life survival skills to use on a deserted island with limited resources. The person who plays the most clever game of survival, walks away with $1 million at the end of the series. The losers, other than brief notoriety, will return to their comfortable lifestyle, most likely.

In reality, there are millions who will not ever watch one second of these reality shows but they will live their whole life just trying to survive. Survival to them is reality.

In November we hosted an event to honor our missionary women. One missionary serving in South Africa shared the story about a woman standing on a street corner in pouring rain with her children by her side trying to sell one mushroom. Selling this mushroom appeared to be her only hope for the day but as dusk was setting in, her hope would diminish.

In December, we held a tour of homes to benefit a local woman’s shelter. At this event, we heard from a survivor of domestic violence. Her courageous story of survival was humbling and eye opening.

If you miss an episode of your favorite reality show, it will still be there next week. However, there is reality you can’t ignore. We don't want to miss the opportunity to make a difference in the life of God's hurting people. “Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act.” (Proverbs 24:12)

In February, Women's Ministry will give you the opportunity to help end the reality of Human Trafficking, a real life tragedy. Our National project, “Break the Chains” is an effort to save one child at a time from this horrific lifestyle and to give them hope of surviving in this world; to give them hope for a better future.

In real life, there are no actors or performers and unfortunately sometimes very few survivors. The struggle for survival is not a game but a reality. Pray about your role in serving the Lord to help provide a better reality for those less fortunate.