Ever since I became aware of world events, I’ve had a general understanding that the world is a really dark place.
If you turn on the news for a minute or two you’ll be met with multiple accounts of deaths, catastrophes, and disasters.
The world, more often than not, appears to be tattered with abundant brokenness.
In my life, I’ve often become overwhelmed and angry over the vast amount of pain, suffering, and injustices occurring in every corner of the earth.
I’ve often become overwhelmed with a world that seems too broken to heal.
But, that’s not what this blog is about.
Every major news network is plagued with stories of despair, and I’m positive you’ve had more than your daily dose of negativity in the short moments that you scrolled through social media before crawling out of bed this morning.
I want to come running to you with stories of hope, goodness, and compassion. I want to share stories that ooze and overflow with God’s glory and faithfulness.
Since leaving for the race, God has brought an abundance of people into my life who have awakened so much hope in my spirit, and have showed me all of the ways that God’s light never ceases to shine and push it’s way through the cracks of the brokenness.
Two people who have touched my heart, in particular, are my ministry hosts here in Chichicastenango.
Juan and Evelyn.
Juan grew up, here, in chichi. At the age of six, his parents forced him onto the street- whereas, they already had seven other children and couldn’t afford to take care of him, also.
For nine years, Juan wandered the streets of Quiche- young, alone, homeless, and starving.
When Juan was fifteen, he made his way to America and attended public high school there, regardless of the fact that he didn’t speak a word of English.
Juan recalls that he met people throughout his life that, for just a moment, poured love and hope into his life. At times, it was a person who took a minute out of their day just to look him in the eyes and provide him with a bite to eat. In America, it was strangers who took him into their homes.
Each of those people were Jesus to Juan, and he remembers that, for years, those small moments of compassion and love from utter strangers were the only reason that he strived to live another day.
Eventually, Juan found Jesus for himself and felt called back to chichicastenango- a place he had spent fifteen years fighting to get out of.
Now, Juan and his wife Evelyn live, here, in Chichi- minutes away from Juan’s childhood home, where most of his brothers and sisters still live.
Juan’s dying mother, who was diagnosed with liver cancer a few months ago, lives with him and his wife.
“Even though she abandoned me in a time when I needed her most, I want to love her and care for her as long as the Lord allows me to. The bible says to honor your father and mother, and I intend to do that up until the very end.”
Multiple mornings, I’ve shared coffee with Evelyn and watched Juan wheel his mother out into a new day’s sunlight and gently lean down to kiss her forehead. Each time, I’m unable to think of a better picture of God’s unending grace and love for each of us.
Juan and Evelyn share a heart for the children of Guatemala, and desire so deeply for the children here to grow up knowing how abundant our Father’s love for them is.
Some weeks, Juan and Evelyn go with little food so that they can give more to the feeding centers that they hold regularly.
When the local school was desperately searching for an English teacher- Juan willingly offered himself, saying “I will teach English each week, with no pay, if you allow me to share the gospel with the children.”
And so, twice a week, we go into the local school with Juan and help him teach English to several classes there. Each time we walk through the doors, Juan is swarmed with children hugging him from all directions and chanting “INGLES, INGLES, INGLES”
Juan and Evalyn are expecting their first child, a little boy, in November (A WEEK AFTER WE LEAVE. Yes, we’re all as disappointed as you are.). Juan receives no salary for the ministry he does and, countless times, his family has told him to quit his ministry and to get a “real job” in order to provide for his soon-to-be family. But, time and time again, Juan has demonstrated unwaivered faithfulness, saying “I cannot stop doing what I’m doing. This is where God has called me to be. This is where I need to be. God will provide. He always has.”
Each day, brokenness is broadcasted to us in the form of sixty- inch televisions. Daily, we’re served despair on silver platters, demanding our attention and our grief.
Amidst all of it, though, God has placed people- people full of compassion, goodness, and love in small, unknown corners of this world to bring His light and His hope.
Don’t get me wrong- this world is broken and hurting. My God, this world is hurting.
But, we serve a God who is working amidst it. Don’t for a second, allow your heart to become cold. Don’t for a second, allow the hurt to convince you that God’s light isn’t seeping through the cracks. Don’t for a second, allow the hurt to convince you that hope and love and sunrises aren’t as real, and as evident as they’ve always been. Feel the pain, feel the hurt, and allow it to inspire you- allow it to drive you towards compassion.
Friends, I am convinced that at the root of it all- our world and the people within it, alike, are unbearably beautiful. And, we serve a God that is working and moving no less than He was thousands of years ago.
In the past month, our Father has showed me more of His love, His mercy, and His goodness more than any news headline ever could.
