From Geoffrey to you; sometimes you just can’t hold back the tears!

Friday August 28,2009
Sometimes you can’t hold back the tears
On Tuesday a group of friends from my old church arrived here in Masii and the time I have been able to spend with them these past few days has been incredible. I can’t think of a better way to end my six month journey than with serving side by side with this compassionate people that I am fortunate enough to call my friends.
This morning we set out for another day of house visitations. We have been visiting the homes of the children that they or members of their church sponsor and delivering food packages to them. The first home that we visited was the home of an HIV positive widow her four children and mother. Only one of the boys was sponsored by Tumaini, the three others were on the waiting list. One of the boys was anemic, his frail and thin figure along with his fatigued appearance opened our eyes to the suffering that this family is facing. This drought has taken this family as a causality, with the lack of rainfall killing off a majority of their cattle and their farmland being a dry wasteland this family was truly struggling financially. School fees, food, water, medical attention, trying to attain any of these things is a constant upward battle for anyone who finds themselves being a sick widow in a financially starved situation like this woman was in. As this family’s story and constant struggles were revealed to us our hearts shattered. By the end of our visitation each child got a new sponsor. The children weren’t looked at with pity but with compassion. Those children were so loved by our team that they couldn’t bear to see them suffer anymore. Pity would mean that we walked away while saying, “that sucks,” and maybe tossing up a prayer. The compassion that these individuals were consumed tugged on their hearts to the point of stepping up to the plate and making the commitment to support these children.
I was overwhelmed with emotion and couldn’t hold back the tears. How long had this family been suffering? How many times did they cry out to God? How many times have they gone without food? How many times did they feel like throwing in the towel and giving up? Here and now God wiped away the tears from their eyes, took away the pain and sting of poverty and heard their cries and pleas and used a few individuals to answer their prayers.
Once again my eyes have been opened to how God uses us as individuals to answer prayers and to meet the needs of his children.

Blessings,
Geoffrey

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