Wednesday morning we had a little down time, so I was sitting on the outside porch enjoying the sunlight and typing some things up on my iPad. A few minutes later, a taxi cab pulled into the driveway and two of our squad members, Michael and Cortney, stepped out. They were stopping by the house for ten minutes and then rolling out again, and as they closed the taxi doors I overheard the driver say something in Spanish. Michael and Cortney don’t speak Spanish, so they didn’t understand, but I stopped what I was doing and looked up. As the two of them walked by me to get into the house, I asked what the context of the conversation was. It had nothing to do with what I had overheard, so I second-guessed myself. “I think his friend died this morning,” I told them, but then I started thinking maybe I’d misheard a word or two. As I looked out from the porch at the waiting driver, I could tell something was wrong. He had gotten out of the car and was blasting music, singing sorrowfully, sitting on the grass with his fists to his forehead
I felt God pushing me to go talk to him, so I walked out when Michael and Cortney were ready to leave, and asked him if I’d heard him correctly. I had. One of his good friends from church, Alberto, had poisoned himself that same morning. A suicide. He was 29 years old and left behind a wife and two children. He sang in the choir at their Catholic Church and was known for helping and giving advice to others. Raul, the taxi driver, had tears in his eyes as he told us about his friend. He had decided to go to work that morning because he needed to be out of his house. He feels like he always has to be strong for his own family, and that morning he could not be strong. He tried stopping by Alberto’s house to offer his sympathies to the family, but he couldn’t do it. His eyes were red from crying and he was emotionally distraught.
There is little we can do during times like these, but the three of us gathered around the cab and lifted Raul, Alberto, and their families up in prayer. With my hand on Raul’s shoulder I told him that God knows the hearts of those who mourn, and he knows the hearts of those who are in such despair that script their own ending. He knows Alberto’s heart. He knows the reasons Alberto decided to end his life Wednesday morning. He can see Alberto’s family, and He is right there with them, embracing them and wiping away their tears. He sees Raul and He sees his grief, and He is healing his heart from the pain.
When we let Him, God walks us into places and situations at just the right moment. I could have been inside the house instead of on the the porch. I could have had my headphones in. I could have told myself that I had misheard the driver’s words when he said his friend had died. But none of those things happened, and we were able to play a role in comforting a person in grief. We were all exactly where we needed to be.
Please keep them in your prayers.
Love,
Raquel
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