The beloveds make the pages of the bible come ALIVE. Watching their lives is like seeing the pages in living color, with movement that reverberates the TRUTH written on those pages.
Maria Elisa brings to life Romans 1:20. She’s a language deprived deaf woman in her late 40s who, from the start, left me in awe at her love/devotion to Jesus. I’ll never forge
t our first time meeting her. She lives with her elderly mother in a humble home. With gestures she communicated how she goes to the church down the road, she loves Jesus and has Him in her heart. It was evident that her love for Jesus wasn’t because of the preacher’s sermons (she can’t hear them); it wasn’t because she read the pages of the Bible (she’s illiterate); it wasn’t because a friend communicated the Good News to her (she doesn’t have friends). It was because through everything God made she could clearly see His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature. She has no excuse for not knowing God.
t our first time meeting her. She lives with her elderly mother in a humble home. With gestures she communicated how she goes to the church down the road, she loves Jesus and has Him in her heart. It was evident that her love for Jesus wasn’t because of the preacher’s sermons (she can’t hear them); it wasn’t because she read the pages of the Bible (she’s illiterate); it wasn’t because a friend communicated the Good News to her (she doesn’t have friends). It was because through everything God made she could clearly see His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature. She has no excuse for not knowing God.
When we were getting ready to leave, she motioned, “Well, aren’t you going to pray for me?” “Of course!” I exclaimed, and as we gathered around her to pray, she had her hands folded and eyes closed. I tapped her on the shoulder and said, “We pray with our eyes open so we can see the prayer; this is a prayer you’re going to understand.” THAT moment has been seared into my heart. Her love and devotion to Jesus wasn’t dependent on understanding prayers in the way I know. Her understanding of prayer transcends words! Divine.
On July 23, 2023, Adrian (a Deaf disciple of Jesus who we are mentoring), Jessie, and myself gathered to baptize Maria Elisa! God’s faithfulness to her was FELT this day. Her desire was to be baptized and God brought Signs of Love to her: a community that ‘understands’ her and believes in her! We tromped down the narrow footpath through the brush and ended at the muddy, shallow creek. Maria Elisa got right in, and exclaimed to her 3 new friends, “Come on, I want to get baptized!” It was a moment I wish every follower of Jesus Christ could’ve experienced. Another holy moment had been seared into my heart...there before me, on her knees with her hands raised to the heavens, was a woman whose love for Jesus transcends anything I can wrap my mind around. This day I fell more in love with Holy Spirit. He IS faithful and He IS enough. Once again, this day I witnessed that LOVE is its own language and can be understood by ALL.
For those of you who pray for us and/or support us, thank you for helping us speak the language of LOVE. We pray you’ll experience moments with God that transcend words.
No comments:
Post a Comment