The Persistent Widows

Morning Devotion

Jess and Lily have become great friends.  It’s fun to watch them interact.  In the mornings, I always tell the group that whatever we discuss during our morning devotion will definitely become relevant during our day.  It never fails.  God does some really amazing things!  We talked about the difference between mercy and dependency. God clearly tells us in the Bible that we should be generous and help others in need.  We should show mercy.  But, repeated mercy can lead to dependence.  We don’t ultimately want to enable situations or people.  This can be with our children or it can be in missions.

Tragedy Strikes

Our first stove install was at Flor de Marie’s house.  She is a 47-year old single mom with three sons.  Flor left home on the coast by herself when she was 12-years old.  She came to Tecpan not knowing anyone.  She became friends with a woman who helped her out.  I’m not sure what happened to Flor’s husband, but she is now raising her children on her own.  Ten months ago, while Flor was at work, the wall of her house collapsed due to the heavy rains during the rainy season.  Flor’s only daughter was killed in the accident.  One of her sons was in the home and it has devastated him which is totally understandable.  Child Protective Services came to Flor’s house and were planning on taking her children away because they felt she neglected them because she went to work and left them alone.  They ultimately left the children with Flor under the promise that she would not work and leave them.  How is she suppose to support her family?  If she can’t make a living then she won’t have a place to live.  It seemed very unfair.  I told Ben to read Luke 18:1-8 and the story of the persistent widow.  Basically, there is a widow who is crying out to a judge who does not fear God and ignores her.  She continues to plead.  Finally, to make her stop, he finally gives her the justice she wants.  Jesus says, “Even he (the judge) rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”  So, we should always cry out to God by letting our needs be known.  Asking in faith and trusting that He cares and hears us. God is righteous.  Flor is broken over her loss.  God hears her.  God sees her.  She should give her pain to God and trust Him with the results.  No matter what CPS says, God is faithful.  We invited Flor and her sons to church.  We were praying they would come.

It’s never too late

Our next stop was to Lucia’s house. She is a 64-year old woman with two daughters.  She is married to a 50-year old man.  He carried himself much older.  He seemed very wise and measured.  Lucia suffers from debilitating diabetes.  We prayed for strength and the willingness on her part to eat healthy.  Her grandson was standing there.  Ben shared the Gospel with him.  He seemed receptive.  He told Ben that he wants to go into the military when he gets older.  I brought up the idea that he needs to find his identity in Christ then other things.  He should be a Christian before anything else.  People suffer from a lack of purpose and meaning.  All that truly matters in this life is who Jesus is to you.  Everything else will take care of itself.  We prayed over Lucia’s grandson and also her husband who is having surgery tomorrow.  As we packed up to leave, Ben stopped us and asked us to come back.  We needed to pray again.  But for who?  It was Lucia.  God used Ben’s words to convict Lucia’s heart.  She had gone to church a little recently, but she had never committed her life to the Lord.  We all prayed over her.  What a joy and privilege.  At 64, she knew she couldn’t wait any longer.  I have a new sister in Christ.  Praise the Lord.

The persistent widow

We ended the night by going to Juanito’s church to help them celebrate 32-years of service to the community.  I can’t think of a better way to end it.  So many families from the past.  I was going around the room to talk to different people.  Tony volunteered to help me with translation.  Our first stop was with “two widows” who were friends.  Can you see where this is heading?  One has told me many years that she would appreciate some financial help with her business if possible.  Prices are higher and she needs to buy some inventory to sell.  Life is very hard.  It’s a reasonable request.  But, we get asked all the time to help, and you sometimes have to say no.  The other woman has diabetes.  She needs medicine to help get healthy. it’s a little over $100 every ten days.  We cannot create dependency.  We must show mercy.  I felt like I was living in Luke 18.  Now, to be clear, I’m not the unfair judge in the story.  🙂 But, the persistence of the widows year after year finally convinced me that this was the year to help.  Of course, all of the help comes from God.  He knows what they need.  I’m just there to advocate and be the hands and feet of God’s will where possible.  We should all be persistent in our prayers.  God loves us.  He makes all things work for our good, and His glory.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow we build the house.  It’s 1.5 hours away.  I’m very excited to build the house with the team.