Passion

I am very blessed in that I get to do a job I enjoy that directly impacts on people's lives. I currently work for Christians Against Poverty, a national debt counselling charity that provides financial education and relief as well as spreading the news that everyone is loved by God. This is amazing in that I get to speak to people every day who are broken and struggling and offer them hope and a new future. It also fulfils my passion for people and my God.

Through this job I have discovered many more things that I am passionate about. Firstly, injustice especially towards the poor. Time after time I hear vulnerable people tell of their confusion or anger over bank charges and huge interest that they have to pay and companies who won't listen when they say they have been made redundant or they have become ill and can't afford to pay at the moment. The one that inflames me the most I think is benefits overpayments. The very people who can barely afford food and bills are suddenly told the benefits agency gave them too much and they now need to pay it back. Surely the solution would be not to pay too much in the first place rather than punish the poor! I think the image we have of people receiving benefits in the UK is that they are 'scroungers' and 'lazy' but all you need to see is a young woman on her own with 2 children and all she has is a few eggs in her fridge and that is it to realise that it is an image far from the truth and most likely a picture the media has stirred up. There is so much poverty in the UK that we are quite happy to turn a blind eye to because we would rather pretend we are dishing out too much money and that it is easy to live off the state. This eases our conscience and gives us a scapegoat. Praise God for his vision which is Christians Against Poverty to combat this.

Something else that has made me think recently is how well we look after our mental health. There is a very British attitude of keeping our feelings bottled up and not talking about them as it is uncomfortable and embarrassing. We find it improper for people to get too emotional or admit that they are struggling. In America, counselling and regularly seeing a psychiatrist seems to be quite popular and considered the norm (though maybe this is more in cosmopolitan cities such as New York). Our knee jerk answer to unhappiness here appears to be anti-depressants. We need to talk more and find the root of our problems. We need to be comfortable in realising that seeking professional help is healthy and should be part of our general upkeep of our wellbeing.

Related to this is my passion for women and their wellbeing. More widely available counselling and mental health care could help women who have suffered from domestic violence or been through abortion or adoption, miscarriage or infertility. Inequality is still rampant and I long for the day where jobs that involve caring for people are valued in regards to pay as much as bankers.

That was quite a rant but I believe that my passion for people is God's passion for people and I will continue to ask him to break my heart for what breaks his.