Today I want to tell you about a few more friends I have met here and the work they are doing. Jackie has been living in Romania for a long time. She is the pastor of a Gypsy church, and God has given her a lot of other assignments over the years. One thing He called her to is taking care of widows in this country. She has a friend, Irene, who helps her in this ministry. Irene is from Wales. She spends a lot of time there advocating for the widows' ministry, and she tries to visit Romania a few times a year. She likes to spend time with these ladies, listen to their stories, and see how they are getting along. This program is to help widows in the most desperate situations, to give them a better chance of survival. Some of these women receive pensions, but it's a pitiful amount. A few of them are still able to work and earn a little extra money, but many are in poor health and can't work. Some of them can't get a pension, for one reason or another.
When Jackie and Irene hear about a widow in dire need, they visit her and assess the situation to determine what she needs most. The majority of these widows are given a pack of food essentials each month and wood to keep them warm in the winter. Often they are more concerned about the cold than about food. Imagine yourself barely able to get around, living alone in a rundown house in a village. You have no way to get wood for yourself. Freezing would be a very real fear. Others need medication and can't afford it. Some have a family member to take care of them, and all they need from the program is medicine.
Irene was visiting while I was here, so I got to meet her and learn a lot about the ministry. She told me the stories of some of the people in the program. She tries to visit as many as she can while she is in the country. Some of them live in far away areas, and she can't always get there. Last week, after we spent time at the mental hospital in Mochria, we went to visit two of the people they care for in a nearby village, and I got to see a little bit of what they see.
Elena lives alone. She broke her leg at some point, and it wasn't set right, so she walks crookedly. She suffers from arthritis. She has a flock of chickens that she cares for. Their hutches are practically falling down. She also keeps a good-sized garden, although I don't know how she keeps it up. But most older Romanians are extremely hard workers. They just keep going until they have nothing left. And they don't want help with their work. We brought Elena food and sat with her for awhile to talk. Irene said that she does not seem as well as before and is losing some of her memory.
Then we went to visit Geeta. The program includes mostly women, but Geeta is a widower. They found him last year, I believe. He was living in deplorable conditions. He has a hernia the size of a melon. When his wife died, he was barely able to care for himself, let alone the house. There had been a fire in the house at some point. He was living in trash and filth. No one in his village would help him. They said he was mean to everyone, so they didn't care what happened to him. Then the missionaries came in with a work team that was visiting from the States, and they set out to show love to Geeta. They spent a whole day taking everything out of his house, and they had to burn all of it. They repaired the fire damage as best they could, cleaned, and painted. They brought clothes and food. People in the village would come by and ask why they were helping Geeta, when no one else cared. Now someone goes to his house once, sometimes twice a month, to clean, change the bedding, and bring clean clothes. He also gets canned food that is easy for him to manage. To me, his living conditions are still very crude, but it is much better than what it was. The young man who usually goes there to clean was with us, and he said that Geeta is always happy to see him. I don't know what kind of life Geeta led, or if he was really as mean as people say. But I wonder how these acts of Christlike love are affecting him, perhaps changing a hard heart. Not many people would stop for Geeta, especially if he did act nasty and they had known him a long time. Not even many who call themselves Christians would stop. But Jesus would.
These people have often led very hard lives, and they are mostly alone in the world. But God has heard their cries and sent His servants to care for them. If only all His people would care like He does; I think there would be no more desperate needs. But I am preaching to myself too. We know how God feels about these things. James tells us, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this; to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
But do we listen? How often have you and I turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the brokenness in our world? How often do we stop caring about what might happen to us if we stop to help, and start caring about what will happen to that person if we don't do anything? Convicting? YES. All I can think about is how uncomfortable and overwhelming it would be to step into a situation like that and try to do something to change it.
I think the first step is to acknowledge how spiritually destitute we are: destitute of true love, forgiveness, mercy, patience, kindness....apart from the life of Christ in us. Jesus had a big problem with the church of Laodicea in the letters of Revelations. He tells them they are poor, blind, naked, and wretched....but they are deceiving themselves. They think they need nothing. And because of this, they are in dangerous territory. The cure is to repent and come to Jesus to supply what is lacking in our souls. We have to become desperate to have hearts that are desperate for Him! If we desire to see the kingdom of God come to earth, we need God's heart beating within us. If you are not there today, don't despair. Take the hardness of your heart to Him. He knows what to do with it. Ask Him to make you willing to receive His heart, no matter what it costs.
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