Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. (1 John 3:2)
During our years in Honduras, we lived just a few hundred feet from the Caribbean where the ocean breeze was constantly blowing sand and dirt off the street into our yard. An old woman by the name of Maria came once a week to sweep and rake around the mission house in exchange for some rice and beans and a few lempiras. She was a yard cleaner, and this was how she supported herself and her invalid daughter.
As the months passed, I could see her becoming frail. I knew she was not feeling well, but concern for her daughter kept her faithfully showing up at our gate week after week. Because of her status as a poor woman with a dependent daughter, she had no choice but to find what work she could. There would never be any rest for her.
One day after putting away her rake, Maria bowed her head to receive Christ as her Savior. Even though she remained a yard cleaner until she was too weak to continue, her status changed when she responded to Christ’s loving invitation—the day she became his child. The last time we returned to Honduras I saw no sign of her, and I knew she was no longer poor and sick and weary, but whole and at rest.
Share the benefits of becoming a child of God with someone today!
Marcy Burke enjoys living in Alabama and being a retired pastor’s wife, former missionary, and worship leader. She finds delight in playing the piano and taking long walks with her husband, Larry.
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
