Think a minute…In 2007, an amazing woman was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but then sadly died at the age of 98. Her name was Irena Sendler from Warsaw, Poland.
During World War II Irena worked as a plumbing and sewer specialist in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw. But her real purpose was to try to save as many Jews as possible from the Nazis who were starting to mass murder thousands, and ultimately six million, Jews in the Holocaust.
Irena smuggled babies out of the ghetto in the bottom of her toolbox. For the larger kids, she had a burlap sack in the back of her truck. By the end of the war Irena had smuggled out and saved approximately 2,500 babies and children! She also helped rescue 500 adults.
When Irena was eventually caught by the Nazis, they broke both her legs and arms. But she wisely kept a record of the names of all the children she had saved in a glass jar which she buried in her backyard. After the war was over, she tried to locate any parents who may have survived to reunite them with their children whom she had rescued. Tragically, most of the parents had been murdered in the Nazi death camps. So, Irena placed these orphan children into foster families who adopted them.
Irena Sendler conquered evil with compassion and courage. Throughout her life she told people: “Keep bringing light to the world…and never stop repairing broken hearts and lives.” There are people all around us—in our workplace, school, neighborhood, village, even in our own family—who are hurting and need our compassion and courage to help them. God has placed you there to be His heart and hands extended to them to help change their life. To fight against injustice, abuse, neglect, rejection, and discouragement with His powerful weapons of love and truth. Nothing can truly heal and change hearts except God’s real love and light which only Jesus Christ can give.
Won’t you ask Him to take charge of your heart, so He can begin filling you with His compassion and courage to comfort and help those you know are suffering? Just think a minute…