The Boy In Striped Pajamas.
That's the title of a movie we as a family, just finished watching. This movie is anything but a little boy in his PJ's going to sleep. This is a movie that tears your heart out as it displays the Truth about what really happened inside the Nazi Concentration Camps in World War II. It wasn't just fun and games, and it wasn't even that they treated them sorta of roughly. It wasn't even a prisoner-of-war POW camp, either. It was a slaughter-house of thousands, of millions, upon millions of real, made-in-the-image-of-God human beings. And yet how many of us today know their story...?
Their story. When I say their story I mean the story of the thousands of millions of individuals that suffered and were murdered by the cruelty of the Nazi soldiers, the men and women that Hitler, along with others, had brainwashed them into thinking that just because someone is different, that it makes them of less value than themselves.
That is so wrong! See, what they didn't realize is that each individual, each person, is a human being created by Almighty God and Creator, special and unique, beautiful in the eyes of God, just the way God created them to be.
So what if the girl at your school is bigger than you? Or your best friend you've grown up with, she weighs ten pounds less than you...Or she doesn't wear make-up and you do...or you work out and your friend doesn't...or you have thicker hair than someone else...or straighter teeth...or whatever! God made each and every one of us special and beautiful in His eyes. Different, yes, but deep down, in the inside, we all have a soul still. We all want to be loved, cherished, respected, admired, cradled.
We all long for a friend that will accept us for who we are. And do you know what? Proverbs 31 tells us, that "beauty is fleeting, but a woman (or man) who fears the Lord shall be praised"! Big muscles, beautiful skin, whatever it is, will fade with time, and eventually completely disappear. But inward beauty is like fine wine, it grows better over time. Inward beauty cannot be taken away from you, it becomes who you are, what you stand for, the essence of you.
And how do you get inward beauty? Because in reality, from the moment each one of us is conceived, we are ugly with sin on the inside. Our hearts are infested with it. So the only way we can be beautiful on the inside is to repent of our ugly sin, and cling to the One and Only Savior, Jesus Christ. He will purge you into the cool water and cleanse you and make you new! He even tells you, that "all those who are in Christ are a new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new." Amen!
So do you want true beauty? Turn to Christ. He is the essence of all things beautiful. He is the Lord. Worship and thank Him for being Savior this Thanksgiving, and always.
Remember, you are beautiful in His eyes! He made you with a specific purpose and plan by making you just the way you are.
Gerda Weissmann
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Gerda Weissmann
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Born: May 8, 1924
Bielsko, Poland
Gerda was born to a
Jewish middle-class family in Bielsko, Poland, a town noted for its
textile industry. She began her education in Polish public school, but
later entered a Catholic girls school. A rabbi was permitted to come
into the school and instruct the Jewish students in religious studies.
1933-39: On Friday, September 1, 1939, German fighter planes appeared
overhead, causing many people to flee the city. My family remained and
lived through the intense shelling that followed on Sunday evening. In
the morning we heard a tremendous roar. Two German soldiers raced up the
street on a motorcycle. We heard people shouting "Heil Hitler" and a
black, white and red swastika flag suddenly fluttered from a window
across the street.
1940-45: After being moved to Bielsko's ghetto, I was deported in
1942 to work in a textile mill in Bolkenhain, Silesia. Despite the
hunger and backbreaking labor, there was caring among the inmates. A
German supervisor, Mrs. Kugler, even saved my life. I'd fallen ill and
gone to the camp hospital. Mrs. Kugler knew that an SS man was
inspecting and that the sick would be gassed. She dragged me back to the
factory, started my loom and set me in front of it. I was delirious
from fever, but I passed the inspection.
Gerda was later sent to slave-labor camps in Marzdorf, Landshut, and Gruenberg. She was
liberated by the American army in May 1945, and emigrated to the United States in 1946.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/idcard.php?ModuleId=10006544
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust
