Saturday, March 1, 2008

Not Want.

(Part three of our recent Mission to Anapra, Mexico)

As the sun broke over the horizon on the Tuesday morning in February I knew that it was going to be a good day. During the night Lori Eschenburg had given me a pair of ear plugs because the night before we had a snore fest and only a few people had gotten decent sleep, and of course they were the ones that were snoring. So this morning my outlook on life was a bit better than it had been the previous day.

After breakfast and devotions we loaded up and went back to Deborah’s and as normal we gathered on the new slab to pray. This time, in the circle, almost everyone prayed out loud. Thanking God for the opportunity to be in Anapra again, thanking Him for safety and the previous days work, asking him for protection and health and blessing on Deborah and her family. Then it happened. I remember that the sun was peeking through to my face from behind the neighbor’s house, washing me with a warm embrace and then Deborah began to pray. She was praying in Spanish but that didn’t matter. She was immersed in thanksgiving to God for his hand in providing for her. Wait! Wait! Injustice welled up inside of me. This was a woman, that in order to give her daughter and grandkids a good nights sleep, she slept on the cement floor. She slept on the concrete in a place on the floor that was under a Bible verse that she had written on the wall above her bed. The verse is Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” She sleeps on the concrete under the sign. I was very convicted for all of my pettiness, selfishness and lack of faith. This woman, for five minutes poured out her heart to God her loving provider and every Gringo gathered around that circle cried. What a lesson we learned, as the presence of the Son of God was displayed in grandeur through one small faithful Mexican woman. Indeed this was going to be a good day.


1 comment:

Jennifer D. said...

Isn't that the lesson that is always thrown in our face when we visit Mexico? How selfish and self-righteous we are. How these people with little more than a concrete room are more thankful and faithful than we are. Tell me more!!