This whole week we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to bless a few widows with brand new cement floors for their little homes. All I kept thinking was how blessed I am to live in the abundance that is the United States of America. I am surrounded with comforts and commodities these people have never even imagined. It broke my heart to see the conditions they live in. A full family sharing a 3 room home, sleeping on planks of wood, cooking whatever scraps they can get on a wood burning stove, with drafty windows and a barrel of dirty water to use for drinking, washing up and washing clothes. All I kept thinking was how sad it was and how I wished I could do more and make a larger impact in their lives. And then we met Marina. She’s a lady with 5 children who stays with her neighbor since her abusive husband kicked her out of their home after bringing in another woman. And that’s not all. Marina has 2 handicapped children, an 18 year old son who only has the use of one leg and no fine motor skills to speak of and an 8 year old daughter who is deaf and mute. Her youngest, a boy of 2, has been chronically ill with respiratory infections for a while now. They have no access to social services or medical attention. They live at the mercy of their neighbors whose limited means are already stretched to the max. We were able to bless her with a small care package of toiletries, and a few items for her children. Her eyes watered in gratitude at the small act of kindness, which was such a big deal for her. She reminded me of Job, despite her affliction, both in the lack of material necessities as well as health for her children, she still has faith in God her provider and continues to have an upbeat attitude about life and a hope for a future in God. It’s humbling to see her neighbors, who do not have much to spare, give what they don’t have to help a fellow human being. I came to Honduras thinking I was a giving person and realize now I’ve barely touched the tip of the iceberg. The Hondurans from Hatillo Village have taught me about self sacrifice for the love of others… it’s sooooo what Jesus would do.

So I keep asking God to make me more like Jesus, yet carpentry isn’t exactly what I had in mind. Thomas, Kim and I set out to build a set of bleachers for the kid’s soccer field. Nothing fancy, just 6 steps, about 6 feet wide made out of scrap wood. We worked on it for 9 hours over 2 days and faced all sorts of obstacles, between broken bits, accidentally splitting pieces, and having only flat head screws to deal with, it was a seriously frustrating project. We were at our wits end and finally decided maybe we should pray about it, so we did. We apologized to God for not coming to Him sooner, and confesed our need for His guidance and patience and wisdom. I kid you not, we were able to put up the last 45% of the project in about 20 minutes after that. Everything just flowed together and the obstacles miraculously disappeared. It’s funny how as humans we naturally rely on ourselves to solve problems and work things out, despite having the God of the universe on our side! It’s sad that we only finally go to Him when all of our own resources are tapped out. He’s teaching us to go to Him first, with joy, thanksgiving, and lots of faith.