It’s Hopeless

“There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” Proverbs 23:18, NIV.

One tsunami widow and her four sons, all under the age of six, are living in temporary barrack housing in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The housing is much like chicken coops for human beings. She shared her feelings of hopelessness with a Christian tsunami relief worker who was visiting her community.

It is a vicious cycle. She has no income and has to sell half of the rice that she gets from the government in order to buy oil and kerosene to cook it. She can’t even afford to buy fish for her children. Even if she could find a job, she couldn’t take it, because there is no one to watch her two younger boys. The two older boys are school age, but they are embarrassed to go because they don’t have uniforms like the other students.

She and the boys survived the tsunami because they had left the night before the wave to visit her sister. Her husband decided not to go, and he died. After listening to her pour her heart out like water on the ground, the Christian offered to pray with her in the powerful name of Jesus. The woman agreed, and they prayed.

God always hears and answers these prayers, but in this situation the answers came fast. That same day the Christian who had prayed with the woman learned of another organization that provides uniforms to children from the barracks who cannot afford them. She also spoke with a friend who teaches women to crochet purses as an income provider without leaving the house. The friend not only teaches a trade, she also shares stories from the Bible as she they work. She said that she could meet with this woman and others in her barracks to offer to teach them. God is good. He is the one who gives hope to the hopeless.

Pray that:

Christian workers will not only listen and pray with tsunami survivors, but that they will look expectantly for God to answer and give hope to the hopeless.

A small group of women will learn about the love of Jesus and respond with faith while crocheting purses.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.