Cry For Her

last Sunday a family from my church were making their way home from service when at a busy intersection they noticed a lady kneeling down in the middle of the road. Cars were passing and no one was stopping. I am not sure the full story, but this family stopped their car, the wife got out and joined the woman in the middle of the road. She convinced the woman to walk with her across the street to the gas station. They spent some time with the woman and eventually it became evident that she was addicted to drugs. The family called the paramedics and waited until they arrived.
They continued their family drive to Subway but the daugther was visibly shaken. As the daughter and father stood in the parking lot. She told her father, "I just think this woman needed someone to cry for her."

How many addicted to drugs and alcohol? How many lost and abandoned? How many hurting and hopeless? Just need someone to cry for them. We may not can free them from their addiction or release them from their abandonment but we can cry for them. Compassion comes from the Latin word that means "co-suffering." We are told in the Bible that God is full of compassion (Psalm 86:15). Jesus seeing the multitudes of people "was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd" (Matt.9:36).

Compassion starts by being willing to "co-suffer" with the other person or as the teenager from my church said, "be willing to cry for the other person." It starts in simplicity: Smile, say a kind word, offer to do a chore or run an errand, or just be willing to listen. What does compassion mean to you? Have you been shown compassion? Have you had the opportunity to show compassion? Share your thoughts here or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jamey.prickett)