Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

It seems like an oxymoron to say that it is blessed to mourn! I’m especially feeling that way tonight after visiting two homes not too far from our ministry offices today. I asked Maribel (pretty girl in photo), Lucy’s mom, to take me to see her house and visit her grandmother, Francisca, who is sick. On the way, Maribel asked me if I wanted to meet her aunt. Sure, why not? So we stopped at a very decent-looking house (for Flor), and there was a pathetic woman sitting on the porch. I thought she was looking through the bars, but I was wrong. She can’t see. I stepped onto the porch to say hello how are you, and noticed that she had something wrapped in medical tape hanging off her left shoulder just above the breast. She smelled like betadine. This aunt, Suyapa, began to tell me about her medical problems: high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney malfunction. She is on dialysis twice/week – except that she didn’t make it yesterday because her ride didn’t come. She explained to me how they hook up the tube hanging out of her shoulder to a machine, and that she is in the hospital from very early in the morning until seven or eight at night. She can’t walk by herself. She said, “I want to get well. I don’t want to die.” I prayed for her, and we left.

Next stop: Dona Francisca and Maribel’s house. We parked next to a narrow opening on the road, and began to walk down a labyrinth of cement steps. I thought, “The worst of this is that we are going to have to come back up!” The house was indeed at the bottom. It’s a shack by anybody’s standards, and Francisca was lying in bed. In contrast to her daughter Suyapa’s remark that she did not want to die, Francisca almost immediately, in a very flat tone, said, “I have been thinking that I’ll soon cross over to the other side. I’m glad you got here in time to visit me.” I visited with her for awhile, brainstormed about how to make her house more livable, prayed, and we left.

These visits happened after I’d spent almost three hours listening to Maribel tell her story. I took seven pages of notes. I’m not going to tell you what she said because I want all of you to buy our book! However, I did not notice that Maribel felt blessed to be mourning so much loss and pain. I searched for adequate words to encourage her, someone who has suffered continuously for almost all of her twenty-five years.

We have all known the blessing which can come after the mourning. Somehow we have to learn how to reap the blessing while the mourning is still going on. HOPE IN GOD is how we do that. Please join me in praying for Suyapa, Francisca and Maribel, that the Lord would restore their hope so that He can turn their mourning into dancing.