She said she had a dream two nights ago. She and her daughter were walking through the dump and from a distance they could see two men approaching. Her heart began to race in fear that she would not be able to protect her daughter. As the two figures moved closer, the fear dissipated and then turned to joy. When the men were in standing in front of them, they reached out and embraced each of them with a hug. In her dream she felt that they were sent by God. She felt loved and worthy. When Maria awoke, she was still in her makeshift home made out of corrugated metal and sheets of plastic in Chinandega, Nicaragua. Her reality had not changed. They are the forgotten ones who were torn from there homes when a mudslide occurred after heavy rains. The entire village was destroyed. The government stepped in and moved them, creating a village beside a dump, in what was only supposed to be for a short period of time. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months and months into years. That was fifteen years ago. They feel that they are the forgotten ones and that even God has forgotten them. Its a death sentence at the dump. There isnt food, clean water or medicine. The younger children run naked because their families cannot afford to clothe them. Joseph witnessed the arrival of the dump truck and saw people scurrying to scavenge through the garbage for anything useable or edible. You could see them running from the edges of the area toward where the garbage was being dumped. Kids running with no shoes over metal cans, elderly struggling to bend over to collect bottles. If they could collect two hundred and fifty bottles, they can make $1. Two days after Marias dream, Gods Eyes showed up for a clinic. What transpired not only affected Joseph but myself as well when he relayed the story. Maria spoke of her loneliness and life in the dump. Her tired and sad eyes welled with tears over and over. She told Joseph that she realized this day that her people were not forgotten. They may have been forgotten by the government but they were not forgotten by God. She said that God had given her that dream to assure her that she was loved and that there would be people coming to share the love of Christ. Maria left the clinic with a pair of glasses that she so desperately needed and renewed hope. When she stepped out of the room, Joseph looked out only to see many more Marias with their own story, their own sadness, their own loneliness. Many of them our brothers and sisters in Christ that are living among the rubble and garbage. Their children are living in a standard that we find unacceptable would never allow for our own. So I ask myself this question, If it is unacceptable for our children, why is it not unacceptable for theirs? Why do we, with so much more, allow this tragedy across the globe? I heard a friend of mine answer this question that rings a convicting bell of truth. The reason why there is so much poverty, is because we hold on to too much. That is a very convicting statement. It is written over and over in the bible what we are called to do. In Matthew 25:40 The King will answer them and say to them, I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me. Also, in Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, when you see them naked to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood. Father, tonight I pray that I would not hold onto too much. I pray that I will never be ok with seeing suffering and that I will do everything through You to help. I know that I cannot help everyone, but I do know that it is possible to change the world one person at a time through You!
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 05:20:07 +0000
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