I was just skimming through the blogs my friends like to follow, and I found this. Thank you Awkward Ashley. I needed this :)

"Perhaps the greatest indicator of character is the capacity to recognize and appropriately respond to other people who are experiencing the very challenge or adversity that is most immediately and forcefully pressing upon us. Character is revealed, for example, in the power to discern the suffering of other people when we ourselves are suffering; in the ability to detect the hunger of others when we are hungry; and in the power to reach out and extend compassion for the spiritual agony of others when we are in the midst of our own spiritual distress. Thus, character is demonstrated by looking and reaching outward when the natural and instinctive response is to be self-absorbed and turn inward. If such a capacity is indeed the ultimate criterion of moral character, then the Savior of the world is the perfect example of such a consistent and charitable character."

After reading these incredible words I went to work. A woman came in, at the same time I did, and I was told to do her intake immediately. My boss explained that because of the cleaning that was happening we were not accepting any new women today - but they made an exception for this one. "It is pretty bad..." she told me, "And hey, we have hearts, so we are letting her stay." She explained that she had just picked up the woman from the hospital and that she was waiting for me in the office area. I never want to undermine the importance, relevance, and influence of other types of abuse. In this shelter it is hard to see just what emotional, mental, financial and spiritual abuse can do. We help women get out of all of these situations. This woman had also experienced these types of abuse but what stood out to me most was the absolute presence of the physical abuse. I cannot imagine what this man must have done to the spirit, the inside, of this woman because I was able to see what he did to the outside.

Covered from head to toe in bruises, bumps, cuts, scrapes, and broken bones the intake process was not comfortable. It was hard for her to hold a pen and sign her name because it caused such intense pain. I explained to her that, because this was community living and we didn't want all of the cleaning to fall on one person, a very simple chore is assigned each night. However, I explained and reassured her that tonight she did not get a chore and should just go to bed and get comfortable. She graciously expressed she understood and I showed her her room, got her everything she needed, and went back to work.

Later on, I came back to the kitchen area to find this beaten woman, so beaten in fact that she could hardly lift a pen, sweeping the floor for another woman, taking out the trash, and cleaning alongside the other women staying there. She later came and asked me for extra bedding for one of the other woman because that woman was stressed and overwhelmed.

I went back into the night manager bedroom and tried to process all that I had seen. In the depths of despair and grief, I witnessed a woman who should have been looking inward, take care of everyone else at that shelter. She was aware and acted in service. She was inspiring.

May we all try to be like this woman. Looking outward even when we so badly want to look in.