I get a little miffed at those songs on Christian radio complaining about how the church isn’t doing anything for the down trodden and broken.
I get the point, I’ve learned from my own experience that there are a large number of people who aren’t taking part in the faith walk of truly jumping into following after Christ with their whole lives. In every ministry there is huge lack of resources including financial and emotional support; But in every ministry you find miracles of hands reaching towards you with help in your hour-of-need; and love when you feel you are on your own.
The hands of God are loving us through his children. THEY ARE! The ministry of service can only be understood (and just barely) by walking through it. As a spectator, I think maybe all you can see is a giant mess of hurt and need. Actually to be fair, sometimes all you see is a mess while you’re in it. But as we wait, and endure, hope blinks through cracks in the wall, giving us the sense that there will be victory. (Victory is a hard word for me to use. I’ve heard it so often in songs at church it feels a bit meaningless, but I use the word victory because this is a good spot for it.)
I’ve been living in the DR for a LONG time now; almost 7 years. It’s at the point that people assume I’ll be living there forever. This gives me a lot of anxiety. I long for this particular battle to be over, to feel set free from it and go home and start working on a different battle, one that doesn’t feel so scary all the time. I think my day is coming. I think we are nearing the end of the struggle I felt called to here in the DR, and on to the next thing. But as I wait, I receive comfort and hope from everyone out there engaged with our story.
There are stories. I should be sharing them here on my blog so you can all hear them, but I have such a hard time trying to put them down in written words.
Just know that we need prayers. The women are struggling financially as prices have gone up on basic essentials, and life is always full of surprises like illness and death, and these things always cost way more money than is available.
It may be hard to understand but when things are hard the women tend to lash out at me a bit. Not all of them, but many of them. I think they forget that I’m trying to help, and fear over comes them that I am not doing something for them that I should be. This can be hard to take as a single person. My co-worker Cara is great comfort to me in times like these, but her time with us has ended and she has moved back to Texas.
I am currently at home in Canada trying to raise funds for the women through ‘La Tienda’ sales, and then I head back to the DR in November. It’s our goal, as one of the final steps in this particular project. To let the women put everything they have learned through the La Tienda project to use. After 7 years of work, we are going to be setting the women free to become entrepreneurs and handing them over a bit of money to manage. This is going to be a very difficult transition for the women and for me, and raising the money is a bit of challenge as well, but we have seen miracles so far and I am hopeful we will see more.
Please pray for the women, that there hearts will not be fearful and that they would really run with everything we’ve tried to teach them. Please pray for me as I prepare for this giant undertaking.
Also please continue to pray for Jonathan’s situation. Everything is kind of at a standstill, and I just LONG for this battle to be over with. Please pray that the Lord continue to provide us with the means, and knowledge to sort out his paperwork.
Thank you for all the Love.
Rachel
