power in prayer

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
Psalm 145:18-19

Every Sunday in San Andres, we have women who come at the end of our day - when we are tired and ready to go home. We call them "the stragglers". I have learned that many times they are the ones who come for prayer. Yesterday, two women came who I remembered from some months ago. They had come asking for food. They told me similar stories of their lives married to men who drink too much and cannot care for their families. They told me about how there was no food in the house, about men who were angry and violent toward them and their children. We of course, gave them a small bag of food. But more importantly, we talked with them about a God who sees and hears the cry of His children, who had seen the injustice in their lives. As we prayed for them they both cried tears of anguish and pain. We promised to continue to pray for their husbands - that the Lord would open their eyes and soften their hearts to Jesus. I always write down the names of husbands or other family members and take them home to add to my prayer list. So yesterday when they came, they told us about how, since we prayed, their husbands had stopped drinking and how their homes had changed. They - along with another friend that they brought with them - expressed a desire to accept the Lord as their Savior. Their husbands however, had said that they could not until the men had (women are not allowed to lead...in anything here). But they asked that we write down all the names of their family members that we could continue to pray for them.


It is not uncommon for women to come and say that they want to have a relationship with Jesus but that their husbands will not let them. Indignation always rises within me when I hear that. But I have learned that this is how this culture is and to ask a woman to defy her husband only creates confusion. So we pray for a heart change in her husband and we encourage women to begin to pray themselves, for their husbands. Often, we have to clarify that to pray for her husband doesn't mean that she can pray that the Lord will stike her husband dead! So many times we have seen the Lord begin to move in the hearts of these men and as a result, entire families come to Jesus. He truly is "near to those who call upon Him..."

The rains have come and we are so grateful...but they do create some challenges. We have been without power off and on for almost a week. The roads are so muddy now that the buses have to use chains, and although they help for the moment, they pretty much destroy the road, which is precarious at best. But we are so thankful to see the green and to watch the corn beginning to grow. No matter how wet and cold one is, they always say the same..."it is a blessing from God!"

We have worked now for years to establish trust up in Chiminisijuan. So no matter how wet or muddy the roads are, we work as hard as we can to get there. Usually those times when we have to work the hardest, when it would be the easiest to just say, "lets not go today", those are the times when we really need to be there. No exception Tuesday. Both of our translators called to say that they would not be coming, our back-up translator was not available either. Finally Armando called back and said he would come...fever and all. We can drive to a point now, and then we walk, as the road down to the clinic is impassable when there is more than a little rain. Duane usually drives the 4 wheeler down with supplies, but he was unavailable so David agreed, but he planned to come later. We arrived late, with mud squishing between our toes, to find one of our ladies in active labor and about 2 months early. After some discussion, we realized that they would not take her into the hospital...so we started her on some IV fluids, gave her some antibiotics for a possible urinary tract infection and PRAYED...hard. When we finished getting her situated we turned to another woman whom we know well. She had her 3 year old strapped to her back and began to tell us about how she had been burned. Little Berta had fallen into a pot of boiling water. As she uncovered her, Berta began to scream. Her momma had packed her wounds (which turned out to be severe burns over one fourth of her body - from the waist down) with some kind of grass and a little bit of burn cream that she had been given in the government clinic. The smell was overwhelming and it took me over half an hour to remove all of the grass. We dressed it as well as we could, started her on antibiotics and ibuprofen for pain....such a pathetic little bit for so much suffering. It seems however, that God takes the little bit that we have and multiplies it to make it more than enough...much like the loaves and fish. The woman in labor didn't have another pain after we prayed and snored her way through the rest of clinic as her IV fluids ran. And Joseph took me up the next day to see little Berta. The smell was better and although she will be in pain for some time to come, she was smiling a little when I left.

As always, I am so grateful for His graciousness to us!

"My grace is suffficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9