Throughout my own spiritual journey, I've been moved by stories of people who have hit bottom in their lives. It may be illness, addiction, or sin that has them down when they finally consider—or even just hope for—a more spiritual sense of life. Then, sometimes quickly, sometimes gradually, everything changes for the better.
During production of a television program about non-profit work, I interviewed a woman in Bangladesh who had received aid from the Salvation Army. After her husband abandoned her, she was destitute. Although her family had no obligation to feed her, her father did allow her to live on the porch of their clay and straw hut. She worked all day wherever she could, earning very little in such a poor country, and she had very little to eat.
At this point, a representative from the Salvation Army invited her to join a savings group where women pool very small amounts of money. Tiny loans are made to members of the group, and if a loan isn't repaid—a rare occurrence—the whole group is responsible for the debt. This woman first borrowed money to buy a goat, which she sold at a profit. Then she borrowed money to buy a cow and the cow provided milk and birthed a calf that woman sold. Finally, she borrowed money to buy repair tools for fixing bicycles. Eventually, she was able to start her own small business, repairing some of the bikes and rickshaws that clog roads by the thousands in her country. I was moved to tears when she told me she was now planning to send her oldest son to college.
