The sky was clear and the sun was incredibly hot. Overlooking a valley sits a new house, painted white with blue trim. I looked around at the faces in the circle as we recalled on what we had just accomplished for Sochi, a single mother with two young boys.
The fact that a team from Korean Emmanuel Presbyterian in Seattle came to Tijuana in itself is God. Also the fact that they built a house is amazing because we did not even know that they were building until two days before we started building the house. It truly is amazing how God works, how God can use us to be his hands and feet. I can honestly say that I don’t think I could be any happier anywhere else! I am blessed to be serving God.
These thoughts pass through my mind as we dedicate this beautiful home to a deserving family. To a family who has been through so much hardship in the past year, this gift is probably overwhelming. Sochi with her husband had applied to get a home from YWAM a year ago. Their hopes were high and their futures bright. Sochi and her husband were told that they were to receive a house so they tore down there little room that they had on their property to make room for the new house. Filled with excitement they waited for the house but no team came. For reasons I don’t know, weather finances, fear or whatever the team cancelled and Sochi and her husband were left without a house. This happened two more times to this wonderful family. Then eight months ago hardship struck. Sochi’s husband was shot down at work for reasons unknown. After such a horrible thing I’m sure Sochi thought that things couldn’t get worse. Winter came and with winter comes rain in Mexico. And the rain washed away some of Sochi’s land which meant that her plot of land did not have a flat space big enough for a house anymore. So Sochi did not qualify for a house anymore until she could level a place out for a house. I can’t imagine what Sochi went through, but somehow she managed to level a space out for a house, still clinging to a hope that she would receive a house. That took a lot of courage to still cling to that hope for a house when she had been let down three times before.
I watch Sochi with tears in her eyes; receive the keys to her new house. She tells us to take care of our hands, because our hands are precious. Now she will not get wet when the rains come and her boys have a brighter future again.
I am blessed to be here, to be used by God. For God to have worked in such a way through so many people to bless a family who has been through so much hardship, who thought hope was lost is truly amazing. God is reliable, He is trustworthy, and He does have mercy and grace. God is Love.
