James 1:27

Thursday – Oct. 2, 2008

It’s about 7:30pm and I’m sitting here trying to digest all that has gone on this week. I’ve been spending my afternoons talking with many of the women who attend the Women’s Empowerment Program at Mt. Barclay. I want to share a couple of their stories with you.

Cecelia is in her early 20’s and her only family is a 2 year old son. She is one of the women who’s not involved in prostitution, so her life is so hard (because most of these women use prostitution as a means to get money to buy food, housing, clothing, etc for themselves and their children). Cecelia is a gifted singer and often leads worship at our devotion time and is sometimes invited to sing at local churches. She has been living in a small hut made of mats, rice bags and plastic. The hut is about 6’x6’, half of which is a small bed made of sticks and blankets, that she shares with her son. Cecelia came to the campus yesterday and told me that a severe rain storm the night before had blown the top of her house away and she, her son, and all she owned were soaked in the torrential down pour. A neighbor let them spend the rest of the night in her home but she came to ask me to pray for God to provide her with the money to fix her roof. She had no where else to turn. I prayed with her but after she left I felt that I needed to share her situation with Saah, the Director. His response was that we needed to find a room for her to rent in her village until she could make her house livable again. That was quickly arranged, so tonight Cecelia and her son Teddy, have a dry, safe place to sleep. She just called me this evening to tell me that she had just moved her things into her new room and she is praising God for answering her prayers.

The second woman’s name is Patricia, who also leads worship for our devotion times. Patricia is a widow who lost her husband in the war. She’s about 30 and has 3 children, ages 12, 9, and 7. I first meet her in June and she shared then the struggle she was in to care for and feed her children. She was hanging on to her faith in God to provide for them. The woman I met today was no longer a woman who had that hope. She has spent the last 3 months unable to provide for her kids and there are many days when they all go hungry. The latest blow has been that all 3 of her children were sent home from their school because they didn’t have shoes. The Patricia I met today was a broken woman who has lost hope that God will come to her rescue. I prayed with her and gave her something to buy food, but as she walked away the Lord reminded me that he doesn’t call widows and orphans to figure out how to make it on their own. He calls for his people to care for them.

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” -James 1:27

I’m writing this to ask you to pray for these two women and for the many others who are in such a struggle just to survive. These women are currently learning a skill that they will use to support their families, but until they have means of supporting themselves, they are in need of our help. We have decided to set up a “relief fund” for the women attending the Empowerment Program to help those who find themselves in emergency situations. Those who are interested in helping these women can send funds to:

c/o PLAN Loving Adoptions Now, Inc. Women’s Empowerment Project-Mt. BarclayRelief Fund PO Box 667 McMinnville, OR 97128

If you have any questions or want more info, so feel free to email me or respond to this blog.

In His Grip, Jill