Speaking What is Wright

Me & Esmeralda

God has been so faithful in confirming His will for our family as we have continued on this journey to the Philippines.  His confirmations bring excitement and joy to my heart all of the time, but there are some times when that excitement and joy is joined with a touch of heartache.

Several years ago now God chose to use a young Tarahumaran girl to capture my heart and to begin to peal away the scales from my eyes for His love for His lost people.   He showed me a beautiful love and an eternal hope that can spring from great poverty and darkness.  It was when I first met Esmeralda that I began to see how God would use my family and me.  The Lord has blessed me to be able to witness a child who was once considered by her mother to be near dead and not worth saving; to a child who is now alive with the love of Jesus and a mother who’s heart has been softened enough to want to protect her child.  

For those who don’t know, Esmeralda is a child that my family sponsors and who we have had the opportunity to visit and pray for often over the past several years.   When we first met Esmeralda she was very sick and living in one of the worst homes in her community.  Not only was her home nothing more than cinder-block and tin but it was also the place where a lot of the men from the community would come to "party".  Needless-to-say, this child has endured much in her young life.  

On our fist visit with Esmeralda it was obvious that she was very sick and her mother believed she was close to death.  Because of their lack of resources, Esmeralda's mother had decided to only feed her water and corn meal. This was the bare minimum to sustain life and she couldn't hold down much food anyway.  We asked Lupita (Esmeralda's mother) if we could take her to the doctors.  Lupita said she didn't care what we did; Esmeralda was going to die anyway.  So off to the doctor's we went!  

It turned out that with some basic medicine and care Esmeralda's health improved.  We, along with Lupita, were able to witness someone who was once considered dead now alive because of the love of Christ.  You see, when I first heard of Esmeralda's story I told my husband Dan that we just had to sponsor her and I know that it was the prompting of the Holy Spirit that made me so sure.

Since that first visit with Esmeralda we have been able to watch her grow physically and spiritually.  And we've even seen Luptia's heart soften towards us and her daughter over the years.  Although Esmeralda's living situation had not changed we believe that the truths of Christ's love changed her.  We praise God for that gift!

During our last visit in December we tearfully told Esmeralda that we would not be able to visit her as often as we were all used to because God has called our family to serve in the Philippines.  There were A LOT of tears but we parted with a deeper love for each other and more importantly a deeper love for God’s plan for His world.  My hope was that we would continue to financially sponsor Esmeralda and that we would be able to return to Mexico to visit her while on home assignment in 5 or 6 years.

Well, God’s plans are different and of course always better.  Esmeralda’s mother decided to move her out of her current, unhealthy home to a different community in order to protect her from some serious things that were happening to her.  A mother who once didn't care whether her daughter lived or died is now a mother who cares enough to try to protect her daughter.  

Though that news was bittersweet, I praise God for His plan!  He is continually closing chapters of our lives as we move in the direction of the Philippines and all we have to do is sit back and watch.  Closing this chapter confirms to me even more the direction God wants us to go.

I will always continue to pray for Esmeralda and praise God for her and her mother.  I praise Him for allowing me a glimpse of His power through her and I pray that he will continue to use her in His world.  I will continue to pray that she seek hard after God and that He protect her heart from the hardness of this world.  As I have prayed since the beginning of our relationship, I pray that Esmeralda will know the comfort and protection of the loving arms of her heavenly Father.  And I do pray that our paths will cross again one day on this earth so that maybe we both can relish in the way God has brought us together and used us for His glory.