Sometimes I'm affected by situations that I am totally unconnected with and should otherwise regard as just another news story in the world.

I first saw on someone's Facebook status yesterday that a recent graduate of Harding University, whom her daughter knew, had been killed by her husband in Memphis and dumped in a nearby river. This morning I received an email from the Christian Chronicle with a news update on the situation. It was basically just facts about her being reported missing by her husband, who then eventually led police to the riverbank where he had dumped her body.

I have no idea who these people are, but the story does have some quotes from others describing this young woman. She apparently was a wonderful, vivacious person. She had done nursing school at Harding so she was obviously ambitious and driven. There was also a mention that she had recently cut her long hair short to give to the Locks of Love charity, which provides natural hair wigs to children who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments.

But here she is, dead, murdered by a man she obviously trusted enough to dedicate her life to. As I sometimes do, I plugged her name into Facebook, and up popped her profile pic, which - sure enough - was her standing there with a huge smile, holding up her long swath of freshly cut hair. Looking perfectly happy, perfectly normal. By all appearances and accounts, she seemed to be living what most would consider a beautiful life.

But obviously something dark and evil was lurking. Something so evil that it would leave her murdered body at the bottom of a river. I obviously know next to nothing about this whole story, but it starkly reminds me that we simply cannot make assumptions about people and the lives they are living. Seemingly perfect people can have hidden darkness lurking around them, while others who you would never let your kids around turn out to be angels from God.

The whole story of the Church of Christ preacher and his wife in Tennessee was a heavy reminder of this as well. To their church, they were a lovely young family, while at home he was psychologically abusing her to the point she felt justified blowing him away with a shotgun.

So, let's just remind ourselves constantly that appearances matter little. Let's get to the heart of lives around us and be transparent with our own, even if we feel it leaves us looking a little bit like damaged goods. We're all damaged goods, get over it.