Sacrificial generosity matters

Recently I received a note from David Clippard of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.  In this note David told of a tragic story that took place earlier this fall in Northern Iraq.  The family, headed by a single mother named Faithful, was warned by IS insurgents that they must leave their home and village since they refused to convert to Islam.  Faithful refused to do so, and several days later while she was away the insurgents returned, poured gasoline throughout their home and covered her 23 year old daughter, Rita, with gasoline as well.  They then set the home and her daughter on fire.  Faithful returned home to her daughter’s screams, and the screams of her younger daughter who was trapped in a back room.  The fire was extinguished, but Rita was badly burned over her face and most of her body.  The next days were filled with constant stays at a local hospital as Faithful applied lotion to her daughter’s badly burned body.  Unfortunately, the burns were so bad that Rita could not recover.  Just before she died, she looked at her mother and said, “You have to forgive them, Mother.  Please forgive them.”

We cannot imagine the horror of such circumstances, but people around the world live through this and sometimes worse.  Because of your gifts and generosity through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this year, you gave our missionaries on the field resources to minister to this bereaved mother and to help relocate this displaced and terrorized family.

Thank you for always making a difference by giving generously.  Your dollars are transformed into Jesus’ love and touch, pouring a salve on the wounds of the world, and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the darkest places on the planet.

The sacrificial generosity you gave mattered.

It always does.

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