The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed...

I usually don't write anyone or pretty much talk with anyone on Sunday evenings. I'm usually too exhausted to think...much less talk. But tonight is different. I...we, are so burdened by what we are seeing in our community that I have to share it. Friday we went out to a remote village to do a mobile clinic. We have been there several times and it is a very isolated community of indigenous people with the normal needs of most communities in this area. This time however, we were stuck by the overwhelming need. Although we only saw about 60 people, almost all of the children were very sick or very malnourished or both. When we asked if there was enough food, most said no, some said that their harvest this year would be small.




Saturday, we had a pretty normal clinic day, adding only one new child to our already full feeding program. But later that evening, Cali, our friend from the Peace Corps who works in the city office came with news of the "red alert" in our area - signifying the urgent need for food. We spent much of the evening trying to figure out ways to help.




And today, I was overwhelmed with requests for food. Almost everyone we talked to said they were out of corn, some asked for corn, others asked for money, and almost all seemed resigned and without hope. These are people who live always on the edge of desperation...even in the best of times. One woman came asking for prayer for her husband who was threatening suicide. She is 8 months pregnant and told me that her husband said that if the baby was a girl, he would feed her poison as well...but if it is a boy, he will let him live. And so we prayed for Felipe, we prayed that God would open his eyes to see his value as a husband, as a father, as a child of God; that he would see the importance of his life, that he would understand and know his God and Father who longs to love him.

But somehow in the middle of circumstances that leave me overwhelmed and grieved beyond words, I know that God is still God, that He holds the universe in His hand. I know that He sees and is grieved even more than I am.


"You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed...Psalm 10:17,18