FOODFORTHOUGHT

Cindy is a lovely woman with a giving heart. Her desire to help
children molded her future. It brought her through college, as she
studied Special Education, and helps her, even today, as she
diligently teaches in the field. Cindy's prayer was clear from the
beginning--that through her strength, she would make a difference,
reach out to children in need, and lighten their heavy load.

Even with dreams born of love, and a heart full of prayers, life
isn't easy. Last year, a menacing spider crossed Cindy's leg. She
panicked, leaped in the air, landed wrong, then promptly broke her
foot. It was a painful injury, yet one her doctor promised would
soon heal.

But he was wrong. As the weeks turned into months, Cindy began to
wonder, "Why am I still hurting? Why did I have this accident in
the first place? Why must I depend on others to do the simple tasks I
once took for granted?" Cindy cried out to God, but her prayers
went unanswered. That is, until one day, He spoke.

Nine year old, Mark had Cerebral Palsy. He was a shy child, who
rarely spoke to anyone, and walked with the assistance of an
awkward, heavy brace. Although assigned to another teacher, Cindy
watched him from afar. One afternoon, several classes gathered
together in a circle. Cindy limped in, frustrated, almost fuming from
the limitations of her temporary handicap, and sat down beside him.
Mark didn't speak a word, but the following day, he sent her a note.

The moment she opened it, her eyes filled with tears. After months
of heavenly silence, Cindy finally understood -- why she had struggled
so long, why her limp refused to go away, and why God postponed one
prayer answer in order to respond more deeply to another. For in
the end, it was not through strength, but through her weakness, she'd
finally made a difference, reached out to a child in need, and
lightened his heavy load.

The note? It simply read:
------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Cindy,

You are nice. You are pretty. I like you,
because you walk just like me.

Your friend,
Mark

PRAYER
"God our Father, we find it difficult to come to you, because our knowledge of you is imperfect. In our ignorance we have imagined you to be our enemy; we have wrongly thought that you take pleasure in punishing our sins; and we have foolishly conceived you to be a tyrant over human life. But since Jesus came among us, he has shown that you are loving, that you are on our side against all that stunts life, and that our resentment against you was groundless. So we come to you, asking you to forgive our past ignorance, and wanting to know more and more of you and your forgiving love, through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Prayer of Saint Augustine)

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