Holding my position

I’m from Albania. After searching long and hard, I finally found a job as a hospital nurse in Macedonia. One day, to remain true to my religious principles, I refused to take part in an abortion procedure. My colleagues were quite surprised, since by doing so, I risked being fired. Despite being aware that our family, which depends on my salary, would have been hurt because of this, I stuck to my position. After a few days, the head of the hospital himself privately expressed admiration for what I did. He too had wanted to challenge the practice of abortion, but dared not risk his position.

S.E., Macedonia

Raising chickens

We wanted to start a business to meet the needs of the poor. Putting together some of our resources, we started to raise egg layers. Our first employee was a 20-year-old who I later discovered was dishonest. One time, in fact, he disappeared with a large number of eggs. He had been the only one absent that day. Each time I wanted to fire him, however, I stopped myself. “Firing him is easy,” I told myself. “Wouldn’t be better to help him?” Asking God’s help, I tried to place trust in that young person. A few months ago, many hens were dying, and the veterinarian couldn’t understand why. That young man, observing them, noticed it was because the nests were placed wrong: the hens who went to lay eggs were not being protected from the others’ pecking. We changed the arrangements, and there haven’t been problems since.

P.L., Cameroon

Reconnected

After years of marriage, my wife and I got to the point of not being able to communicate. Anything we tried to say to each other in order to clarify how we felt, or why we did things, seemed to be pouring gas on the fire, to the point that we threw in each other’s face that we had really never shared anything. Our life was filled with days of hell, so much
so that our children, even if they had already left home, noticed this intense awkwardness as well. One day, when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed, I asked God for help. A short while later, as I was looking through a magazine on the tram, an article about the importance of trusting each other caught my attention. This was exactly what I needed! I understood that, instead of analyzing actions and words, I needed to restore my faith in my wife, showing that I believed in her. I tried this, and my change in attitude bore fruit. After days of silence, my wife and I have begun a new dialogue.

F.T., Hungary