This week a passage of scripture was made so clear to me that I can’t help but tell everyone when I get home what a huge blessing it has been for me and Brant to feed, clothe, and care for Jesus through our time here in Ethiopia.
Please don’t skip over this scripture passage and read the rest of this post. Even if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus this passage is key to understanding how much joy has filled my heart through what God has given us the opportunity to do.
Matthew 25:31-40
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in’ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ And the king will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
I never realized how this could be true but yesterday (Thursday) Brant and I went shopping with the social workers for three separate families. For one little girl who is very sick with swollen feet and hands, we bought shoes that will put very little pressure on her hurt feet as well as new clothes, because she only had 2 sets of clothes to her name.
One family we helped was a mom and her two daughters 6 and 7 years of age. This mother does her best to provide for her girls, she teaches the younger one at home because she can’t afford school and she does whatever work she can to make money for food. This family was so sweet and on our way to their house for our final visit we bought them food for a month, oil and shoes and socks for the two girls. When they saw us the girls ran to us and kissed our cheeks. It filled my heart with so much joy to see how $40 dollars brought huge smiles to the girls’ faces and relief to the mother’s.
Our final visit was the visit that made the passage above so real I will never forget it. We went to visit a young girl, Ayu. She is 7 years old and both of her parents died of a sickness so her aunt took her in. Unfortunately her aunt has no work and is lucky to have a roof over their heads. She also has a 13 month old baby to care for. The baby is so small and undernourished it breaks my heart. She is about the size of a 7 month old and can’t walk yet because she has no strength for lack of food. During our visit Ayu’s social worker informed us that they had no food in the house. Brant and I were not going to leave that house without feeding all three of the girls and clothing the half naked baby and the girl with one pair of pants. So we set out with Ayu on our laps and bought Ayu and the baby clothes and shoes. We then proceeded to buy 6 boxes of baby cereal and 30 eggs for the baby to eat. We bought 25 kg of teff (to make injera) which will give Ayu and her aunt enough food for one month. We also bought3 liters of oil (2 months worth) and 10 loaves of bread.
The most amazing part of all of this was that all of that food and clothes amounted to less than $70 US dollars. What do I spend $70 dollars on at home? The money I earn at home will now be so much more precious to me. Even though I am a poor college student I can afford to set aside $30 dollars a month so a child can go to school, or have enough to eat. Instead of going out to eat for $30 I will remember the faces of precious Ayu and her aunt when we arrived at their home arms full of food and clothes. How grateful and thankful they were. I should have been the one thanking them. Their undying faith in the midst of a most difficult situation, their selflessness in preparing coffee and popcorn for us when that was the only food in their house will stay with me every day. God is SO good to me and he blesses me not so I can buy unnecessary things for myself but so that I can use what he has blessed me with to shower his blessings on others.
I ask you to pray for my new friend Tigist. She is 19 and is one of the social workers that has been with BCI for a few months. She has 11 children from her church that are newly added to BCI. Tigist’s and now my prayer is that each of their 11 children would be at least 1/3 ($30/month) sponsored before September so that each of them can start school. Pray pray pray for the hearts of those who are blessed to see that their blessing is to share what they have with those who don’t have.
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