Life lessons from Job

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised." ~Job 1:21

Job put life into perspective in this verse. Basically he's saying: "Know what? Life is difficult sometimes and yeah I'm bummed that I lost my family and my belongings and my health, but I'm gonna praise God anyway so TAKE THAT SATAN!!"

In my last post I wrote about the women living at the apartments with me. The Lord gave them to us, and unfortunately this week,the Lord took them away.

Last Friday I went into Tegucigalpa for a weekend off. Rosario (a mentor of Betsy and Hae Young who has a ministry in Cortes) came to stay with the women. I came home on Sunday to find out that Margarita had run away on Friday.

Why?
I asked myself that too. Why run away? Why run away from a place that is providing you with 3 meals a day, a warm bed, an education, safety, and a new start at life? Why is the pull of the streets so strong? We don't know exactly why Margarita decided to run, but we think it has to do with fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of hoping for a new life.
The other women chased her down the highway in the rain until a staff member made them stop. Margarita came because of her free will and she was free to leave. Although we are so sad that she has returned to life on the streets, we realize that we cannot make her change her life...she has to want it.

But that's not all...
The story doesn't stop there.
On Tuesday, the call of the streets hit Maribel as well. She had been having a rough week and a couple of events on Sunday night and Tuesday morning set her off. She set her mind on leaving as well and nothing that we said could change her mind. Although Maribel's departure included some not-very-nice comments towards myself (she decided to take her frustration an anger out on me at the last minute), it's still hard to let her go. Maribel took Fernando with her (he'll be one on August 11th) and everyone has felt his loss. He was turning into a beautiful baby boy and now we aren't sure what will happen to the two of them

Now we are just two at the apartments: Sara and me. Betsy, Hae Young and I talked and we will remain at the apartments and wait for the arrival of new women. We are hoping and praying and trusting in God that all of this is in His perfect timing. We know that He has big plans for us and we are eagerly waiting the arrival of new women.

And while we wait, we continue to praise God for His faithfullness to us. He has promised us women here at the Villa and we know that He will follow through.

May the name of the Lord be praised!