When Life is Hard… There is Hope (Part 1)

     The more I live abroad, the more I realize how easy my life has been (and how relatively easy the lives of most of blog readers have been). That, however, is not the case everywhere. Life here is just hard. I think that's why most of the adults here look so much older than they are (and why most people think I'm only 20). I'm going to share a couple of stories with you of some of the amazingly strong women that live here in Nicaragua. Their stories are actually quite common…

     Felix (pictured left) is 28 (honestly I can't believe she's only a year older than me). She has been married to Alex since she was 12. She has endured abuse in her marriage, withstood hunger when she had to choose to eat or to feed her two children (ages 13 and 5), sat at the hospital with her husband for months on end, has struggled to continue working while facing her own health issues, watched the Lord change her husband's heart and now faces the imminent prospect of becoming a widow and single mom at 28. 
     Alex, Felix's husband who is only 35, is dying of renal failure. Renal failure is the number 1 killer here in Candelaria (due to pesticides in the sugarcane fields, working long hours without drinking enough water, and diet).
   Felix waited for years for Alex to give his life to Christ and to become the husband and father that she and the girls needed him to be. She stayed with him through all the hard times praying that the Lord would capture and change his heart. Now she has finally seen a change in her husband, but is now facing the certainty of life without him. He has been sent home from the hospital and told that nothing else can be done. Felix is sitting with her husband, caring for him as best she can, knowing that he will soon pass away.
     I stood last night at a church service in her backyard watching as the pastors and leaders prayed over her husband and as she stood weeping in the arms of a friend.
     It breaks my heart to see her pain over losing her husband and her fear of how she will care for her daughters alone.
   It breaks my heart to think of her daughters losing their father at such a young age (Esmeralda, her youngest daughter, is pictured right). And to know how hard their lives will be struggling to survive on just Felix's salary.
    It breaks my heart to see Alex dying at thirty-five knowing that his death is not viewed as particularly unexpected, but is a tragically average life expectancy for the men in this area. Their story is not rare; in fact, it is alarmingly common.

   And yet it is in the midst of the difficulty of life here that I can see the truth that our hope is in Christ alone. The Christians here know in a more real way than most American Christians that our only hope is in Christ, His work, and the promise of eternity with Him. As we gathered in their home for church service, no one talked about the tragedy of Alex's nearing death or of Felix becoming such a young widow, but rather the pastor celebrated the glory and hope of Christ's work that Alex will soon be able to shout, "Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54b-55). They stood together mourning with Felix as she mourned, praying with power over Alex and the time that he has left, and celebrating the joy of eternity with the Lord. There is hope, but it is not found in this life. It is a hope that can not be stolen or destroyed and will last for eternity. The hope of grace. The hope of life with Christ.

*Even with their hope in Christ, death in the family is still hard. Please pray for Felix and her daughters, Esmeralda and Carla, as they begin the process of saying goodbye to Alex. Continue to pray for this family that the Lord will provide for their needs and for the church as we learn more and more how to come around a support Felix and other widows within our family. For as it says in James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Pray that we will practice our faith as God requires and be the church family that she so desperately needs now.

To read more about Felix's story, read A Time for Everything. To read more blogs in the hope series, read Part 2 (Rosa's story), Part 3 (Nidia & Gisel's story), and Part 4 (Jasmina & Katalin's story).