Monday was the birthday of Edward. It was a little sad to see him alone though. He is staying at Caleb’s house while they are in the States. The reason for that is that Edward’s wife has a bad drinking problem, and they chose to separate for a time to give her space to think more seriously about this problem, which is destroying her life and negatively affecting those around her. Last week, Edward had to be away for two days to help bail her out of jail because she had gotten bloodied up in a fight she had with another woman.
Edward is pretty sad and burdened about it, of course, but I think the timing of it was especially hard for him. I can’t imagine how that would be to be separated from my wife because of such a problem, but Edward’s wife is lost without Jesus. She is using this addiction to fill the sadness and emptiness in her soul, but we know that will never work. Pray for Edward to learn how to love and serve her in a way that will make the love of Jesus attractive and real to her.
We invited Edward for supper, but he wanted to be alone for the evening, so we waited until lunch yesterday. Steph made a cake for him, and we sang for him and shared lunch together. He seemed fairly grateful to be thought of. He told me later that he’s not used to having family care for him; he’s been alone so long. Hopefully, we can be a calm in his tempest.
Yesterday was Rafael’s birthday. We enjoyed having supper with him and Elisabet at her mom’s house. I thought it was a bit sad to see that he had no friends or family there besides us. Not even Elisabet’s siblings or father showed up for the supper. I was glad we could go.
We had a lovely supper of chicken and veggies after which Rafael asked if we could sing. Partway through our singing, Elisabet’s mom got a call from a frantic cousin’s wife who had been in a spat with the family and had taken a car from them. Said car had ended up on its side in a ditch half an hour away, so they were going to talk with her and help get the car out of the ditch.
Do we feel an appropriate level of gratitude for the peace we have in our families because of Jesus? No, life isn’t all roses and rainbows, but I do not have to deal with the sorts of drama that the world does. The Bible says that the life of the unbeliever is hard, and that’s so true. They are so alone and so miserable.
How grateful I am to be part of the body of Jesus where our focus is loving and supporting each other in the daily needs of life!
Rafael told me as we left that he was looking forward to being in our home again Friday for Bible study. I forget what I said, but it apparently made Rafael think I was dismissing what he had said. “Amigo, I never want to miss another study! We will always be there on Friday to study. I wouldn’t give it up.” Keep praying that Rafael maintains that hunger for God’s Word, and pray that the Spirit will use the truth heard to effect lasting change.
Juan David 