My selfish eyes see a selfless life

 

This is my teammate, Taryn Mast’s blog from last month in Mozambique. It summarizes a friendship we started with a woman from the village we stayed in. Please continue to pray for Mozambique and the church we worked with. Love you all.

 

Before I left for the race I would have considered myself a pretty selfless person, not saying I didn’t have selfish tendencies, but I would’ve thought they were few. If someone asked for something of mine, I would’ve given it, for I could just buy another bottle of water, piece of candy, book, food, etc. I was more than willing to treat my friend to a drink or a meal or let my friend borrow my new shirt…I felt I was a pretty good giver.

But life has changed now. It’s crazy how when we have multiple things and money at our fingertips…we have no problem giving away part of it, a part that will not dent our life to much. Now I see differently, I see myself as one of the most selfish people I’ve ever met. My teammate wants a baby wipe to clean dirt off, a face wash, piece of gum, or asks to wear my favorite shirt that is a piece of crap and I immediately think, but that means one less for me or what if something happens to it? Then, with the tightest fist ever I hand if over or say no! I have little money and even littler access to buy more of these things and so I hold on to them like they were a million dollar bill! I have nothing that is mine, the only time I can be alone is when I go to the bathroom and that is not even guaranteed. I so badly want one thing of mine, but the Lord is teaching me that NOTHING is mine. In a Kingdom, the King owns EVERYTHING and that is what we are in. EVERYTHING I have is owned by God, I just get the chance to use it. When will I learn this? When will I open my hands and give things to others that have not been destroyed by my tightly clenched fists?

 

The Lord really opened my eyes this past month. Rocio and I met a 23-year old woman who had a three-month old baby girl. Her boyfriend who had promised to marry her left a month after having her child. She wakes up every morning at 4:00AM to work in the fields, carries buckets of water on her head in the dead heat while carrying her child on her back and when needed breast feeds in the middle of all that. She is one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen. She looks at her baby girl and smiles with love and tends to her every need. 

 

We met her on a walk one day, she didn’t know anything about us, but asked our translator if we would like to come to her house to have an orange. We thought how sweet of her. As we get to her house getting to know each other along the way, she walks up to her huge orange tree. With her baby on back she starts batting oranges down like it’s no big thing. After hitting about 30 or so oranges down, she runs to get a bag for us to take them home. How sweet we all think, but it’s more than that. This is her income; this is how she lives, and how she feeds her mother, sister and herself. That would be the same as one of us meeting a complete stranger at the store and asking them over and giving them a portion of our paycheck just because. Could you do that? I can’t say I could at this point. 

 

As we leave with grateful hearts, we invite her to come hang out with us the next day, after all she is in our age range and would love to just act that way for a bit. Because of our crazy schedules, we missed her but low and behold she had showed up at 9:00am with another bag of oranges. So, we see her again and give our abundant apologies. We ask her if we can come get her later that day and if she would join us at church. Without a thought, she agreed.   Remember that she has a child, a little sister and a mother that she takes care of, animals, land to tend to and more, but makes time for two strangers. We arrive at her house to walk back to church with her, but her baby girl has a fever. We immediately think, oh she must stay home and take care of her then. She thinks differently…she says, “can you please pray for her, I want to come to your church.”

 

Upon our arrival back at our village Nick, Rocio and I pray for this precious baby. As I hold her in church not to much later we notice her fever is completely gone…God has taken it away and healed her upon our request!

Olinda has what we Americans would consider NOTHING and she gave us EVERYTHING, her time, her love and her income. We can’t even do that for family sometimes, let alone a total stranger…chew on that one. This woman changed me, opened my eyes to something bigger, a Jesus that is so giving and gracious to those who hold what they have with an open palms. This woman was a clear display of Gods love and selflessness and He blessed her by healing her child through it. 

 

When will I ever understand that EVERYTHING belongs to God and I own none of it? When will I ever understand that life is about loving others and not just about building a life for my own glory? When will I understand that God blesses those who love like He loves?

 

I love you all and thank you for all your prayers. God is moving in more ways I will ever be able to explain