Are
you ready for some inspirational stories that will make your heart
jump for joy? These days, it is so easy to get down. Both
individually and as a nation, we have so many problems and it often
seems likethings
just keep getting worse. For example, this week we learned
that pending home sales in the United States just droppedby
the most in 3 years and that they have now been declining
for 8 months in a row. And without a doubt, incredibly
challenging times are on the horizon. In response, a lot of
people are going to choose to complain bitterly and curse the
darkness. Others are going to respond with fear and will try to
hide from the world as much as they can. But I don’t think
that either of those approaches is a good way to react to the
problems that we will be facing. Rather, I believe that the
right choice is to be a light in the darkness and to try to make a
difference. As you will see below, there are many ways that
this can be done. You don’t have to be famous, or run for
political office, or have a million dollars. All that it takes
is a willingness to reach out and love the one in front of you.
If all of us decided to do what we could to truly make a difference
in the life of one other person, our nation would be a far better
place. The following are 5 people who made a conscious decision
to shine a light in the darkness…
Kelly
Nixon Mayr
It
takes a lot of love and compassion to adopt a child into your own
home. When that child has special needs, it can be especially
challenging. That is why the story of Kelly Nixon Mayr is so
inspiring. Along with her husband, she has made a lifestyle out
of helping children with special needs…
Kelly Nixon
Mayr of Colorado has birthed five children, adopted one troubled teen
and fostered several
special-needs infants. On Tuesday, she and husband Paul announced,
through their family blog,
that they had finalized their adoption of Angie, a 2-year-old who was
born drug-exposed and clubfooted, whom they had fostered on and off
since she was 1.
Now they are preparing for their next
adoption—of Rita, an 8-year-old Eastern European orphan with
arthrogryposis (a rare syndrome causing unbendable joints) and a case
of post-traumatic stress disorder.
But Nixon Mayr, 45, who speaks about her
close-knit brood with equal parts passion and humor, insists that she
and her husband are not extraordinary.
“I yell at my kids, and I think one might
have had Goldfish for breakfast the other day,” she tells Yahoo
Shine with a laugh. “The only thing we are is willing.”
It takes a lot of money to raise those
children. Kelly and her husband could have used that money on a
larger house, luxury cars and expensive vacations. But instead,
they willingly chose to live their lives in service to others.
Rahat
Younger
Americans are capable of feats of great compassion as well. For
example, a YouTube personality known as “Rahat” could have easily
ignored the homeless man that he would often see at the local
shopping mall. But instead, he
decided to do something about it…
On March 4, a YouTube magician and prankster
name Rahat set aside his mischievous pranks to do something really
kind for a homeless man he’d often seen hanging around his shopping
mall.
He heard that the man named Eric was a “nice
and respectable guy,” so he gave him a lottery ticket telling him
it was a winner and that he should come to the shop and claim his
prize. The store clerk was privy to the stunt and pretended the
ticket was indeed a winner and handed over $1,000 in cash to the
homeless gentleman.
Rahat, who had secretly given the clerk the
cash to give to Eric recorded a video of how excited Eric was to
“win” the money.
And
thanks to Rahat’s YouTube video and fundraising efforts, a total
of$42,000 has
been raised for that homeless man, and his future is looking bright
for the first time in a very long while.
Annie
Hart
Sometimes it is an animal that desperately
needs some love and compassion. In this economic environment,
there are a lot of people that are abandoning their pets, and there
are a lot of homeless dogs and cats that are in a tremendous amount
of pain right now.
That
is why what people like Annie Hart are doing is
so wonderful…
When Annie Hart rescued a sick, homeless pit
bull, not even she could have predicted the miraculous transformation
the animal would undergo.
Hart is the
executive director of the
Bill Foundationand is no stranger to rescuing animals.
She ended up naming the pit bull Gideon. The
dog was in such bad shape that he actually trembled at the sight of
humans.
Doctors also discovered that Gideon was
suffering from multiple severe bacterial and highly contagious fungal
infections. He was put in quarantine.
As
you watch the video of the transformation of this dog that
I have posted below, you might just find yourself getting choked
up over it…
Mark
A. Mayo
How many of you would be willing to give your
life so that someone else could live?
That
is precisely what Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Mark A. Mayo recently
did. It is this kind of heroism that America desperately
needs more of…
Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Mark A. Mayo, 24, was
killed during a shooting incident at Naval Station Norfolk Monday.
Mayo was assigned to Naval Security Forces, Naval Station Norfolk.
Norfolk Naval Base commander Robert Clark said
the young sailor sacrificed himself to save others.
“It was incredibly extraordinary,”
says Clark.
The shooting happened around 11:20pm Monday
night at Pier 1 onboard the USS Mahan.
Mark Mayo was protecting a sailor who first
confronted a civilian intruder. That man, a truck driver, tried to
board the destroyer Mahan. He disarmed the watch stander and then
turned the watch stander’s gun at Mayo.
“He jumped into the way between the gunman
and the petty officer of the watch. She fell to the ground. He
covered her and he basically gave his life for hers,” says Clark.
“Doing that, that’s something he would do,”
says Virgil Savage, a fellow sailor and close friend of Mayo. “He
always stood up for the little guy.”
You
can read more about Mayo’s incredible act of bravery right
here.
Dan
And Linda Catlin
It takes a very special individual to commit
your entire life to serving the homeless.
But that is exactly what Pastor Dan Catlin and
his wife Linda have been doing for many years.
The
following is an excerpt from a profile of the Messiah’s Branch
homeless ministry in Wichita, Kansas that was written by
Jessiqua Wittman…
Messiah’s
Branch is a family-owned homeless ministry. Since the year
2000, Dan and Linda Catlin have been traveling an hour, at least
twice a week, to help the homeless in the city of Wichita, Kansas.
When I was a teenager (before we were homeless
ourselves), my family had the privilege of working with this family.
We’d arrive at the mission building (a
renovated bar), around 12:30 on Tuesdays and Fridays. The homeless
people of the city, usually about 50 to 70 of them, would already be
trickling into the area. There are a lot more homeless people than
that in Wichita. Those were just the people from the surrounding area
that could walk there, and had no other ministry that they could go
for food. Most churches (besides Messiah’s Branch) require
identification before they feed people off the street, and oftentimes
homeless people have lost their identification long ago, whether
because of drugs, mugging, or police raids (many of the police in
Wichita are very hostile towards homeless people).
When you serve the homeless, there are no
vacations. It is just a relentless battle against human pain
and suffering. To do this year after year, you have got to be
driven by compassion…
Sister
Linda can hold a knife and cut a potato at the same time, in the same
hand! The
whole time seasoning her stew and chatting and laughing with a young
homeless couple that are hanging around the kitchen door, hungry for
more than just food.
And Pastor Dan? What does he do? He takes some
people to doctor’s appointments, some to the hospital. Sometimes he
buys shoes, or makes sure they find a coat that will fit just right.
The way I remember him most is being the resident jar-opener.
In the wintertime, when it reaches a certain
temperature, Pastor Dan and Sister Linda open up the building full
time. There are so many people that come, they lay them all
side-by-side in rows on the floor. For a week sometimes, it’s like
this.
I have personally talked to Pastor Dan and I
know how hard he has worked to help the homeless of Wichita for so
many years.
But the need just keeps getting greater.
All
over the country, the middle class is
shrinking and more people arefalling
into poverty.
We are going to need a lot more people like the
ones you just read about above.
And you don’t have to do exactly what they
are doing. Find your own way to make a difference. We all
have different gifts, and together we can make this country a better
place.
So make a conscious decision to shine a light
in the darkness.
In the end, you will be glad that you did.
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