In hundreds of villages across Moldova, families brace for months of desperate struggle. The contrast between our world and theirs is so stark. By now, winter’s grip is firmly in place. Poverty is a cruel tax-master. Getting water from the well and breaking sticks for the stove that doubles as the cooker occupies the endless days of need. There are no stores, no twinkling lights or shops stuffed with endless rows of whatever… only long days, and much longer nights, waking often to feed the embers while hoping that it won’t be so cold tomorrow. Mornings are the worst. It’s almost impossible to get the courage to leave the cold bed to go outside to face the brutal day… a drafty house, the outside toilet, feeding the chickens in an endless gray world that will seem to last forever.

He came in a manger, from His exorbitant riches in Glory to our world in a dark, dingy stable. We can perform a similar act of grace this Christmas. As God, through love, included us… so we can include them! He came to lift the burden and darkness of this weary world for us. We can do the same for others in our own way. The year is almost done. We can’t go back and redo what’s past but we can “cast our bread upon the waters,” and become the extended Hand of Heaven and reach from our world to theirs.

I want to thank you for every gift you’ve given to save those in need this year: the orphan, homeless, widow, and broken home. Your giving has allowed our “kids,” who were thrown away on life’s garbage heap by others, to have the opportunity to redeem their own worth by reaching to help those who are as they once were! There is so much more to be done as winter descends upon the dire and broken. Please don’t forget them as our family and friends gather near this Christmas season.