What If?

              As I visited homes in an impoverished community, I was impacted by what can’t be taken away from God’s children.  It’s not easy to see as an American when you can’t imagine daily life without a microwave, not to mention a simple washing machine or even electricity. It’s overwhelming to recognize what is missing in these homes.  It’s hard to prepare people I bring on trips to see the lack of basic life needs we expect.  But what is available in abundance from our God is even harder to recognize.

              One reason is because the abundance doesn’t exist in every home.  Most of the homes are full of misery you would expect.  The hardness of life is evident on their bone-tired faces.  They feel hopeless and trapped.  I believe they see us looking at them and know that they should have something more.  Home after home does not have enough food, hygiene, and basic shelter.  Many don’t even have safety. 

            But there were a couple homes, lived in by women of faith, that gave me a far different feeling than pity; it opened my eyes to what cannot be taken away.  I started to think about our basic human needs, and I realized the importance of what Jesus promised.  Hebrews 13:8 says: Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  There is one thing that is most needed to live this life well, and it is available to every human being who will tap into its rich resource. God will never permit what is most important to have in this life to be taken from us.  Nothing can damage it, no one can steal it, nothing can prevent His presence in our lives.  That something is prayer made possible by the Holy Spirit. The women I am referring to have found a way to connect deeply to His presence in their lives.

              Do I have a better life as I type on my computer in my air-conditioned house?  Maybe, and maybe not.  Am I aware of God’s presence?  Do I have faith in my belongings?  Am I wishing for more material possessions in this life?  Or can I see what God has given to me is just enough?  The Hebrew writer is quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 31:6. The Israelites lived out this same message from their tent homes with one pair of shoes that never wore out over forty years and minimal possessions.  They had everything they needed because they had a God who would never leave them or forsake them.  You or I would have given up on those flawed people, but not God.

              God may not give you everything you want, but He gives you everything you need.  Our problem is that we want human relationships, material comforts, and control over our world.  We want to be our own God so much that we devise ways that we can better control our discomfort in this world, not realizing that it keeps us from calling on God for our every need.

              What if you had everything you could imagine and more?  What if you knew you would never need to work another day?  You had all the health care necessary and would never lack money to pay the bills for whatever home you wanted.  What if you had all of that and yet did not have the possibility of having a God who would never leave you and never forsake you.  What would you have?  You would have hell.

              I’m glad that the ministry I worked with is bringing hope and dreams and education for a better life to the people who live in such poverty.  Their lives can get better with a little help.  However, their lives will not truly find meaning until they find the faith these neighbors have every day.  Women of faith living in poverty is a beautiful and humbling sight to witness.

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