As I kinda mentioned in last FRIDAY FOCUS that I should change my PROJECT H.O.P.E. to my 'new' Project "ANYTHING" {since HOPE was My One Word in 2014, not 2015, I named it that last Lent} but it certainly is "ANYTHING" and ties up so well all my "anythings" here in Mexico. since coming here in 1996 to step out in faith and my calling since 6th grade {I waited} ... this one "Project" among so many others of a different nature ... is one that more or less puts all of my HOPE and all of my ANYTHINGS together ... so let's take a different kind of WALK On {this} WEDS. looking at the partial completion (which means - so far, but not yet finished) of my PROJECT ANYTHING
When I came to Mexico in 1996 finally, I wanted to work with the kids (after all I'm a double major in Elementary Ed. (K-6) and Spanish, so that only makes sense, right?) and have been waiting and preparing for this mission adventure since 6th grade with all my educational goals headed south of the border in this direction. So, of course, I was meant to seek out the "orphans" and ministries of this nature with kids because this is exactly what moves my heart. And that's exactly what I did do when I first came. After God spoke to me on the beach the year before I first came through Susana (my 108 year old inspiration), God altered my heart just a little to include "women" with the "children" --- those that may not have as many opportunities for education and learning about Jesus. Soon I readjusted once again to include teaching "English" through God's Word and Christian songs and began putting together lessons in English to go with this, which soon became just teaching English. (sigh) Little did I know that God had something totally different in mind for me. Something that I knew very little about but He spoke with an almost audible voice in one of my trips back to Mexico from Minnesota in 2007. I was certain I had heard Him wrong, after all, I knew absolutely nothing about "trafficked victims" of tourism or worldwide exploitation, but He was sure to confirm and show me. For many reasons, I will not go into the details of this course, but God began to open my eyes to so much more as I began to learn about this, the ministries and all that is involved; calling this my "Project A" ... {who knows, some day I may be able to share more on this "A" of Anything and who would have known when I labeled it Project "A" that the Anything Project would come along, starting with 'A'}.
God began putting together pieces of my own life, pieces of my life here since 1996-2007 and then 'outta the blue' something new showed up with the construction project on the house that I was renting ... or actually someone new. The workers that came to do the construction for the "Architect" were from an "albergue" {sorry, I realize that this a Spanish word and the closest that comes to that is a "Shelter for the Homeless"- the forgotten}. God had yet another plan that He would reveal through these workers, many of whom were new Christians, because their "shelter" was administered through one of the first churches I knew from here, "Espiritu y Verdad" which I had lost touch with because they had moved and moved and finally acquired land and began building a church in the "colonia" known as Villa Verde. {colonia/ colony is another word for just a specific section of the city; it is broken into many}.
All of this previous explanation, is in part to show you when you step out in obedience, thinking you are ready for God's ANYTHING, He may have something entirely different from what you thought or had planned as meeting His will and following His way - your way, He will definitely pull out all stops to show you HIS way and then go about putting the pieces altogether, or running a silver thread from the beginning to the finale, for you to see how HE really was in this from the beginning and kept trying to get you to see it from His perspective. In the meanwhile, He allows you to "mess" up but He'll keep bringing you back to the ANYTHING He had planned.
Introduce one of the workers that stands out from the others and faithfully stays with the construction project from the beginning to the end. The short of this individual's complicated life story up to the age of almost 50 ... is he is one of those "forgotten" (abandoned child, left in the care of his grandma until she dies; parents never took care of him as they parted ways and moved on with others starting over with new families, which become his "step" family, half brothers and sisters; yet (until recently by some) he is never acknowledged as family ... in fact, his life went clearly off the deep end in the wrong direction and he was thought dead, so all that was his from his "abuelita" was sold by his mother and sister. He had nothing and no one and really no reason to live, until Christ came into his life on Dec. 20th, 2011 changing everything) ... he was one of those sent to work on this construction project.
The significance in all this, is I was ready to go home to MN, call it quits (for now) when God showed me that this precious new Christian needed a 'Shelter' of his own that indeed God is Our Shelter and Our Refuge but He does have a plan for each one of His children. This individual needed to get away from other individuals in the "albergue"- the influence that could have pulled him back to his former old self (like me or you) and given a chance to grow in Jesus Christ with his own place to live. God tugged on my heart last year to begin in Lent, a Project to give him this H.O.P.E. thus began Project H.O.P.E. ... land was finally acquired, construction of his own house began in 2015. And the above video (a documentation of God's work) is where and what he has accomplished with God on his own (mostly) through the blessings of a few donations and months of saving and looking [for another version of this story, you can go to the original blog when I got this in my spirit HERE]
He and another Christian friend (brother in Christ) found this land and divided it to have their own place to live ... so already the HOPE was spread to more. His home is built in the colony of "San Antonio" here ... {"San Antonio"/St. Anthony is the Catholic patron saint of "lost things" ... or lost causes, or patron of the poor} ... I don't believe it was just a coincidence that they found their land here, it was most definitely a GOD-incidence, and God put all of what I had hoped together in this one person, this one soul, who needed His Heavenly Father to provide and care for him, and I pray that God still will, because he will and has many needs yet to come. He is one child among many that somehow in society (whether it's in Mexico or right in our own community) slips through the crack ... never finishes their education, lives on the street, never is able to find acceptance in a family, never draws near to God or a church, for fear and lack of knowing that there is one God, who cares and is willing to go that extra mile to WALK with us to show us His Love ... His ANYTHING - to make us SOMETHING outta NOTHING. After all, He's God of the Miracles and this one is just getting started.
He and another Christian friend (brother in Christ) found this land and divided it to have their own place to live ... so already the HOPE was spread to more. His home is built in the colony of "San Antonio" here ... {"San Antonio"/St. Anthony is the Catholic patron saint of "lost things" ... or lost causes, or patron of the poor} ... I don't believe it was just a coincidence that they found their land here, it was most definitely a GOD-incidence, and God put all of what I had hoped together in this one person, this one soul, who needed His Heavenly Father to provide and care for him, and I pray that God still will, because he will and has many needs yet to come. He is one child among many that somehow in society (whether it's in Mexico or right in our own community) slips through the crack ... never finishes their education, lives on the street, never is able to find acceptance in a family, never draws near to God or a church, for fear and lack of knowing that there is one God, who cares and is willing to go that extra mile to WALK with us to show us His Love ... His ANYTHING - to make us SOMETHING outta NOTHING. After all, He's God of the Miracles and this one is just getting started.
We have excellent programs to sponsor many children throughout the world, by supporting them each month, which I totally recommend and am all for ... it's easy to love a "child"; however, on the other spectrum of life, those of us that have reached beyond mid-life ... have been forgotten and quite often need support also. Many, even if they wanted to continue working to go on living, can no longer find employment and in third world countries, economics just don't take care of the aging ones without families to care for them. More and more, families cannot take care of their own, much less their aging parents and sadly too many have forgotten them. Much of what I admired in the Mexican culture of extended families, caring for sometimes 3 generations under one roof is fading and not much of a reality any longer, at least not for the poorest among them. {well, this is another dilemma and topic for another time and journey but meanwhile there are many that are being left "forgotten" living on the streets, homeless} God forgive us. So many needs ... so much to do ... so many left by the road side
| "We instinctively tend to limit for whom we exert ourselves. We do it for people like us, and for people whom we like. Jesus will have none of that. By depicting a Samaritan helping a Jew, Jesus could not have found a more forceful way to say that anyone at all in need - regardless of race, politics, class, and religion - is your neighbor. Not everyone is your brother or sister in faith, but everyone is your neighbor, and you must love your neighbor."― Timothy Keller, Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just " |
| "I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love. ~Mother Teresa If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you. ~Mother Teresa How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~Anne Frank |
