Extremely Poor and Successful

Think a minute…In 2012 an unknown hero was discovered and honored in China’s news media. She was a woman who had spent her life saving helpless, abandoned babies. Together with her husband who died in 1995, 88-year-old Lou Xiaoying rescued more than 30 babies who were left to die on the streets of Jinhua, China.

Lou and her husband were so poor that she had to collect recyclable rubbish from trash cans to support her family. She said, “In 1972, as I was out collecting garbage, I found a little baby girl who had been thrown out with all the junk on the street, left to die. We told ourselves that if we had strength enough to collect garbage, how could we not save something as important as a human life.”

Years after her husband died, Lou, when she was 82-years-old and had her own biological daughter, still chose to adopt her sixth child, a baby boy she had found in a trash can. She said, “I could not leave him to die in the trash.” That baby is now her seven-year-old son Qiling.

One of Lou’s daughters said that even though her mother was so poor, she worked tirelessly every day to give the best life she could for all of the 30 children she rescued and raised. Even in her old age, Lou still went out three or four times daily to collect trash for money to support her children.

Now, sick and dying in the hospital, she said: “I don’t have many days left, but what I most want to see is my seven-year-old son go to school. Then I’ll have no regrets.”

Lou’s life of sacrificial love and giving to helpless strangers has inspired people in China and across the world. At the end of her life, as far as money she has absolutely nothing, but she is extremely rich in the things that are far more valuable and lasting. By serving and giving to others, she filled her life with deep and satisfying love, happiness, and changed lives. That is why she is more successful than many of the wealthiest people in the world.

Jesus said: “Only if you give your life to God and others will you find real life.” He Himself showed us this through giving His own life for us all. Once and for all, won’t you decide today to start giving and living His way, every day? Just think a minute…

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