This week I was encouraged by two very special women, who are great mothers despite the difficult circumstances that they overcome and face on a daily basis. 

The first is named Jacqueline. She is Cyril’s mother and also has four other children at home. Her youngest two children also have a disability and she struggles to provide for them. Yet she never loses heart.

Jacqueline

 I went down to her house on Sunday to celebrate Henry’s birthday. She wanted to do something special because she told me that it is because of God’s love for him that he made it this far. She said that it is only through Christ that he survived two surgeries to remove cataracts and glaucoma. 

Henry and I

She comes by the house to visit Cyril and so she knows the other kids here very well. She was asking me about Willy because the medicine for his epilepsy isn’t working and he is still having seizures almost daily. She said that God will heal Willy. She said that I have tried everything, every medicine, hospital and doctor. She said that know it is only God who can help him now and that all I can do is pray. I am amazed at her faith and pray that God will give me that faith as I pray for healing on his body. 

The second lady is named Pamela. She is HIV+ and lives with her son and three of here nieces. She has the biggest, most welcoming woman I have ever met. 

She lives in such a small house with her four children, so I helped them build a bigger mud house with two rooms and a sitting area. School closed last week and a few of the kids that are sponsored have no where to go so they stay at school. When I dropped of her children, she looked more frail, week and sick than I have ever seen her. Despite all of that she said, “I heard my kid’s friends need a place to stay. Bring them here to stay with us. You have blessed us with a bigger house so why not have the kids stay with their friends.”

The house where Pamela and here five children stay

The frame of their new house. It's almost completed now. 

I was shocked by her hospitality and brought Brian and Ezekiel to stay with her. She was at work when I went to drop the boys off, but that night she called me and thanked me for bringing such great boys to stay with her and her family. 

Ezekiel and Brian before they started school at Purpose Driven Academy.

I pray that God will continue to change me and make me have a heart like these women. A heart that loves even though the situation seems hopeless. A heart that always welcomes and never gets bitter in the face of struggles. And most of all a heart that relies on God to be the absolute provider in each and every situation.