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
I’ve just returned from a mission trip to work with people living in extreme poverty. I experienced firsthand that extreme poverty produces great spiritual fruit. Paul wrote about this to the church in Corinth. Describing their faith Paul writes: And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). This is the way I saw many of the Christian women I met on our trip. One home stood out beyond them all. Last year a small team of leaders traveled to this village on a vision trip. We made many stops at neighborhood homes carrying overflowing bags of groceries. This year we returned to a home that we had visited the year before. You couldn’t forget this home because it was so full of children and moms working, playing, living together while for