Alajuelita, Costa Rica
Miriam has been showing up at our team house every morning during our month here. She usually cooks for the teams that come here to work with 6:8 Ministries and I have heard of her great cooking abilities, but since we have been cooking for ourselves, she just shows up to say hi, sit on her cooler in the corner of the kitchen and just watch as we make breakfast. She speaks English very well and I am thankful that I took the time to go in the kitchen this morning and talk with her.
Miriam started out by telling me that her story is one of God's faithfulness. She was orphaned at the age of five when her parents died in a train wreck. She was separated from her four siblings and given to a couple from the Caribbean. Her new father treated her very nicely, but her mother saw her as more of a servant. She was often overworked and beat. Her father died when she was only 15 and her mother allowed a man to move in who only wanted her mother for her money. Miriam left at the age of 16 for San Jose, Costa Rica to find a job. She met her husband and was married at 22. Their marriage was good until she had her first son 8 years later. Her husband suddenly became a different man. He quit his job and began to drink. When he sold everything in the house to support his addiction and turned to beating Miriam, she kicked him out of the house. As Miriam was telling me all of this I could only think, "Where does the part about God's faithfulness come in?"
"Let me tell you this," she said.
Miriam's husband continued to follow her around after she kicked him out so that he could verbally abuse her. One morning on the bus she couldn't take it any longer and asked God to forgive her because she was getting ready to hit him across the face with the wooden handle of her umbrella. Just as she finished the prayer "God shut his mouth and he could not say anything anymore to me."
Even though her husband could no longer abuse her, he continued to sleep on the sidewalk outside her house. Miriam realized he was close to death and that she did not have the money it would take to pay for a funeral and a plot in the cemetery. She pleaded with God to save her from the expense and the stress of having this man in her life still. The day after saying this prayer, her husband disappeared and she never saw him again. "They tell me that he sleep under the bridge near my house and the water take him away one night. The police could not find him and I know that the Lord takes care of all my troubles."
As a single mother, Miriam found that all of her income was going to putting her three sons through school and buying food for them. It was barely enough when everything was going well, but when Miriam became ill and could not work for three weeks, she found herself alone and without a way to keep her boys fed. When there was absolutely no food left, Miriam walked to pick her boys up from school. She told them, "We are walking to the home because we have no money for the bus and when we get to the home you will just lay in your bed because if you are sleeping you will not feel the hunger." Miriam prayed and prayed as they walked home because she was at a loss for what to do. As she prayed it began to rain and she urged her boys to run with her to find shelter. As they were running, she glanced down and saw a pouch on the ground. "The people were all running from the rain and they did not see it. They were running right on top of it but not one of them saw that pouch full of money because it was for me and my boys." The pouch had enough money in it to support them for the rest of the month until Miriam was able to return to work.
As tears were running down my face, I asked Miriam if she has seen this testimony of God's faithfulness make a difference in other people's lives. "Oh yes," she said. "I learn that everything happen for a cause. Everything have reason. God is very good in my life. God is always good. God is always faithful."
Amen.
Beautiful woman of God.
