Kids in Africa ...

... don't get to watch videos like Dora and Bob the Builder
... don't have comfortable beds w/ fluffy pillows
... don't get to go out to eat
... don't get to take swimming lessons
... don't get to play at the McDonald's play place
... don't get such good home-cooked food, but instead, eat "mush"
... don't have crates full of toys
... don't have nice cars - or cars at all for that matter
... don't have money with which to go shopping

Phrases such as these are what we've been telling our kids for months now. As well as telling them to ourselves, to keep our perspective in check as we're living in ABQ in a 900 SF apartment, struggling to make ends meet.

We watched a video by Gospel for Asia over Christmas and Shiloh was FULL of questions! It showed a family's home, their "beds" and their "kitchen." WOW! I haven't been able to shake those images out of my mind.

And I complain??? I don't like the little "discomforts" in my life??? What am I thinking???

Kay Warren says in Dangerous Surrender ...
"It's very easy for us to remain aloof and untouched by the suffering that defines the existence of the vast majority of people on this planet. I have read that if you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the people in this world! If you have any money in the bank and some in your wallet and some spare change in a dish somewhere, you are amont the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend worship services at church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world."

When I really try to wrap my brain around that - all I can do is fall on my knees before God and repent for my loss of perspective and self-focus. I have a GREAT life and I AM rich, wealthy and blessed! Oh may God break my heart and cause me to live with praise of thanksgiving on my lips! May He help me seal my lips to those complaints that want to slip out.