For the Sake of One...

I am seeing God's provision down to little details. For House of Mercy I made a list today of things to buy for this week (toilet paper, baby wipes, Kleenex, a set of sheets and more towels)... then I get a call  this evening from my friend Erin telling me a short term team that was leaving has donations for us to pick up.  I headed right over because they were all leaving the guest house.  Guess what I found in the bags.... you guessed it! All of those things. Towels and sheets are in the wash now. Will be ready for Friday! Now I just need bleach and vinegar! :-)

The House of Mercy team met to pray this afternoon. I specifically asked that the Lord would continue to miraculously provide for the things we need, even the things we don't know we need. I asked for Him to provide before we could share the need with anyone else. He HAS! AGAIN! I have not officially told the story of House of Mercy on my blog yet. In short, my dear friend Doris and I were praying about when to begin this vision we’d birthed in our hearts some time ago… a house where people without access to therapy, the gospel or caring relationships could come and receive those things for free. We prayed. Doris felt it was time to begin. Oh me of little faith felt like I could not take on one more thing so I bargained with God “When we have 2 mattresses, a carpet, and therapy manipulatives/toys, we’ll know you’ve asked us to start.” I prayed that thinking I had bought myself some time… maybe a year. We agreed not to share those needs with anyone but to wait. Sure enough, the next day an unexpected drop of donations at Doris’ house included 2 mattresses, a carpet, and therapy manipulatives/toys like puzzles, blocks, things to sort, a bean bag chair… and more. My honest response “Oh, crap. Wasn’t expecting it so soon…. Here we go Lord!”

In 2 weeks we had so many things in place, it was unbelievable. Only God could orchestrate this, especially with Doris and my full plates with ministry responsibility and commitments. So we began. We thought we’d start with 2 kids, Miriam and Angel, but Magaly came into the picture.  Its too much to try to explain all that’s happened in these 3 kids lives in the past 5 weeks, but suffice it to say, its miraculous, its powerful, we’ve seen life come from the ashes and death in which they lives. I will have to take another blog to tell their stories if they will give me permission. Their pain and suffering are so deep and God’s work of redemption he has begun seem so sacred I wonder if I can really share them in words without robbing the sacredness of it.

Angel working on his posture & walking with a therapist

Since a brief visit with my friend Michelle Smith in Fresno, I have been pondering the phrase of "for the sake of one..." What God does for the sake of one teenager... or 3 teenagers who are pretty much forgotten, cast off, and left for dead.  

Let me list some of the things He has put into place for the sake of one, another, and another (Miriam, Angel, and Magaly) soon to be many others

1.  A Swiss couple (Monika and Peter) felt lead to sell their home in Switzerland 3 years ago and move into a converted bus, sleep in bunk beds and live simply in their retirement in order to purchase another home for El Refugio's ministry in Lima, Peru.

2. Doris, who never had an interest in people with disabilities began to feel a desire to use the home somehow for people with disabilities. She began to see young people with disabilities whom she could not turn away from

3.  I needed a missionary visa to stay in the country. A church agreed to give that to me if I would serve on Doris’ El Refugio board to relieve the pastor of his duties. My role on the board became to develop a ministry in the house… House of Mercy.

4. Miraculous provision as told above of the materials needed to begin… things I didn’t think we would get for a year and little by little.

5.  A Christian dentist whose heart was touched and offered to see our kids for free

6.  A neurologist with a sensitive heart towards people with disabilities who happened to have studied in Switzerland in his youth and was impressed to meet Doris, her Swiss German speaking kids, and offered to come to House of Mercy to follow our friends’ cases; diagnosis, treatment, and care…. Free.

7.  A friend, Julia with YEARS of experience with deaf blind interpretive guiding, multiple disabilities, disability ministry and sensitivity training, an amazing cook, mother, and a woman whose presence draws you into the Lord’s presence is so moved by the vision, she take it on. Completely. Julia begins work a couple of days each week at 3am in order to be free for House of Mercy on Fridays and for home visits during the week. She dreams of being freed up to develop House of Mercy full time!

8.  Community Based Rehabilitation is a new program in Peru funded by a UK based non profit. They have agreed to send 2 therapists to House of Mercy weekly to give therapy to our friends and also to visit homes and help adapt therapeutic techniques to their daily home life within humble conditions

9.  A man in Julia’s church hears of the terrible conditions Magaly lives in (on a plastic sheet with newspaper to absorb her waste) and offers to purchase her a new bed…. The sheets came this evening with the donation!

10.  Julia’s church surrounds the desperate situation of Magaly’s family with groceries and weekly visits, medicine needed to cover emergency healthcare needs, rides to church for Magaly and her 2 children who also have disabilities, and much more.

11.  A man from Doris’ church who lives far outside of Lima but 30 minutes from Angel and Miriam’s home offers to pick them up and bring them to Lima for House of Mercy on Fridays! He takes his car up a dusty, rocky, unpaved road at the top of the furthest hill next to the cemetery to lovingly bring them down to the city and then when his long day is over, he brings them all the way home!

12.  A neighbor from my apartment building was so touched by the story of House of Mercy that he went to buy groceries… enough non perishable items for 4 weeks’ lunches!

13.  A lady who cuts my hair was so impressed that while she could not offer to receive the kids in the salon since she is not the owner, she offered to come in the mornings before work if we need her to give the kids haircuts and the girls manicures.

The ramp the kids painted and prayed over

14. Doris’ German volunteer builds a perfect ramp for the house, her 10 older children paint it lovingly and with prayers as a project to serve our friends from House of Mercy.

15. People… the keep coming. One comes who loves to cook. One comes who loves to bathe the kids. Another young woman with speech therapy experience begins working with Angel. 2 more therapy students come.  We have 6 people prepared to care for 3 friends… ready and waiting for more!

16. A walker is donated so Angel can learn to walk. He cannot get over watching the cars are scarce where he lives.

17.  Funding… a fundraising tour in California produced almost $4,000 especially for House of Mercy. This means we can cover our transportation costs, food, and even buy medications, vitamins, and plan some special outings.

18.  Opened eyes… Magaly recently understood the gospel message and made a decision to give her life to Christ. The young woman we were told 3 weeks before did not speak or understand repeated every word of a prayer after which she began to clap her hands and with a faraway look in her eyes declare “I see Jesus, I see Him.” I think she did. God opened her eyes to see Jesus

…..I could go on. Still so much more to tell. I must tell. I must declare the miraculous provision and grace of God!

So, for the sake of one, for the sake of 3… God is moving mightily. It may not be the most strategic of plans to reach the multitudes, but I am uninterested in a worldly view of strategic. God’s Kingdom, His ridiculous, scandalous, generosity of love, mercy, provision for the sake of one is what I am caught up in! I know there will be more… more kids, more provision, more miraculous stories. More young women like Magaly and Miriam who have suffered, like Angel who desperately want to belong, to be given a chance, like Angela who I will meet this week that is deaf and delayed who was recently violated… more of these friends will be brought in and adopted into the family of God.

Magaly has begun to eat, in fact she does not want to stop!

Miriam enjoying a walk outside with trees, flowers, cars & color

And Lord willing, a Capernaum team will soon be ready to be an incarnational embodiment of Jesus to these friends and their families at House of Mercy and in their homes…. I can hardly wait to see what the Lord has for us!