“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet? – Amos 3:3
“Wendy, you can’t leave now!” Sarah cried. They were standing outside in the church’s parking lot. The service had just ended and Wendy was heading home. She was tired and just wanted to be by herself.
“I am leaving,” she said firmly.
Sarah looked confounded. “But what about the potluck? Everyone is heading downstairs to the room we set up.”
That’s when Wendy almost lost it. “We?” she snapped. “We didn’t set the room up. I set the room up with some help from the deacons. You were no where around. I don’t know where you were. And when you finally showed up, the tables were already set up and the food put out and ready for serving.”
Sarah gaze faltered as Wendy glared at her. “Well, I was making sure that the singles we invited to our special program today were going to stay for the potluck.”
Wendy shook her head. “The invitation is there in the bulletin and I reminded them again during Sabbath school. You should have been downstairs helping me, Sarah. Not because I am the leader, it means that I am supposed to do everything. There should be collaboration between you and me. I’m tired of doing all of the planning, the preparations and the arrangements. When I signed up to be Singles’ Ministry leader, I was really excited. I asked you to be my assistant because you shared the same vision I had for reaching the single adults in our church. I don’t know what has changed but I’m left doing most of the work and I am tired. I’m going home. You take care of the visitors and the potluck. Now you will see how it feels to be left holding the bag.”
She started to walk away and Sarah frantically grabbed her arm. “Wendy, I’m sorry,” she said. “You’re right, I haven’t been pulling my weight lately. It’s just that I have been so busy. Mom was sick and I’ve had problems at the office.” Wendy stopped, the anger fading away. “I’m sorry to hear that, Sarah,” she Said. “How is your Mom?”
“She is better, thanks to God and the prayers of family and friends.”
“I’m happy to hear that. What about your problems at work?”
“If you give me a lift home after the potluck, I can talk to you about my problems.”
Wendy smiled. “All right,” she said. “Let’s go and join the others.” She reached out and gently squeezed Sarah’s hand as they walked back inside the church.
I read this story and was so touched by this young woman’s love and compassion for others who were experiencing what she once experienced. When a leprosy patient cried out, “Don’t open my bandage!”, Sakshi revealed her own hands and feet which clearly showed traces of the disease. She assured the patient the disease was not as result of some sin. Many people who have leprosy believe that some sin in their lives is the cause. Sakshi once believed this too.
Sakshi was a teenager when she found out that she had the disease. As the eldest her younger siblings used to look up to her until she got leprosy. They abruptly withdrew from her and wanted nothing more to do with her. Friendless and rejected, Sakshi became depressed and hopelessness drove her to attempted suicide. Thankfully, her father saved her and encouraged her. He told her that she was a precious child and urged her to strengthen her heart through the pain and hardship.
“So my papa was becoming so much a comforter to me and he comforted me and even my brother and sister, they used to hate me, and they don’t want to talk with me, they were not in home at that time when I was doing all these things,” Sakshi shared. “So my father, he saw me and he pulled me from there, and he made me understand everything, and after that I became ok.”
After speaking to her father, she gave up trying to end her life but was still experiencing loneliness and it didn’t help that people were blaming her for contracting the disease. This is similar to what Job himself experienced when he lost his livestock, possessions, servants and children and was covered in painful boils. He was blamed for what happened to him. His friends offered him no comfort and told him that he must have committed some evil for all these things to have happened to him. He was all alone but he clung to his faith in God and God healed him and restored his losses.
Unlike Job, Sakshi had some support but it didn’t stop her from worrying or believing that she had done something to contract the disease. As time went by, her condition grew worse. One of her fingers bent in an awkward position and when she experienced terrible pain in one of her legs, the doctors encouraged her to amputate it but she was afraid to do so. And it was around this time that she met a few Gospel for Asia supported missionaries who encouraged her and prayed for her. They told her about the about the love of the Healer and Sakshi began to pray in faith and ask Jesus to heal her own body. And her prayer was answered. Jesus healed her!
After she experienced complete healing, Sakshi decided that she would dedicate her life to serving the Lord and helping others. She attended Bible college and served in leprosy ministry after graduation. She made it her mission to reach out to the shunned and the rejected. “Nobody is there to comfort [the leprosy patients] and to give any kind of encouragement. Nobody wants to love them, hug them or to come near to them to dress them.”
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God – 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4
“By seeing them, I am thinking that I will fill the gap,” Sakshi said. “I will give that love, which they are not getting from their grandchildren and daughters… I will become their daughter, I will become their grandchildren, and I will help them and encourage them and I will love them.” With the love of Christ flowing through her, Sakshi touched the untouchable and despised by doing simple things such as helping them with housework, giving them hugs, washing clothes and combing hair. She showed them the love of God and how precious they were in His sight. He has not forgotten them. God used her testimony to give them hope. He does not cast people aside because they have leprosy. When Sakshi cried out to Him in faith, He heard her and answered. He intervened when she wanted to end her life and through her father, He spoke “words of life into her weary soul”.
January 29 is World Leprosy Day. You can make a difference in the lives of those who are suffering from this disfiguring disease by helping the Leprosy Ministry to share the love of Christ and the Gospel. We hope to see more people like Sakshi dedicating their lives to serving Jesus and bringing others to Him. Be a part of the ministry which reaches out to people who will hear, perhaps for the first time, about a kind and compassionate Savior who is not afraid to touch and hold them. He loved the unloved.
Show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother – Zechariah 7:9
They still hope when they die, that their son probably will come and light their pyre. A son who breaks your legs, a son who hits you so hard that your skull breaks, a son who is willing to put cow dung in your mouth – and yet you want the same son to come and light your pyre. We need to break that mind-set also, somewhere – Winnie Singh, social activist
I was searching the Internet to see what I could find out about the quality of life for widows in India and was shocked. After losing their husbands, they are faced with a life of begging and destitution. Some of them are thrown out by family members. One widow was beaten by the sons she had raised when she asked them for money. In-laws refuse to help some widows while others can’t go back home because their parents are too poor to take them back.
Widows face discrimination and are dehumanized. They are called “it” and in some instances, they are referred to as “randi” which means prostitute in Punjabi. Some of them marry their brothers-in-law because being man’s property protects them from being raped.
A widow is blamed for her husband’s death. “You are widowed because you did something wrong in your previous life: that is the view in this predominantly Hindu culture,” explains Dr. Leelavathi Manasseh of the Bible Society. “So, whether a widow is from a rich or poor background, she faces blame, mistreatment and rejection by her family. Many are kicked out of their homes and left to fend for themselves and their children, leaving them in a desperate situation.” It’s worse when a woman loses her husband to AIDS and she tests positive for HIV. She is met with even more rejection and ridicule.
In Northern India, there is a place called, “Widow City.” It is the holy city of Vrindavan. Widows go there because they believe that if you die there, you would be freed from the cycle of birth and death and obtain moksha (emancipation). It is a place where these women can get away from a life of isolation and the society where they have no place or value. They are there because they were cast out families who don’t want to pay for them or by in-laws who don’t want them to inherit money or property. They are ostracised by their villages. They have lost their income. They are at the bottom rungs of society and are prevented from remarrying. In Vrindavan, they pray at the temples and beg. Other widows go there, as pilgrims, intending to dedicate their remaining years to serving the deities Krishna and Radha.
Life for a widow is hard. When their husbands were alive, they were protected but once they were gone, these poor women felt like orphans because they had no one to take care of them or help them. They were all alone. Perhaps this is why in the Bible, orphans and widows were always paired together because they were defenceless, society’s vulnerable. God wants us to plead for the widows. Defend their rights to a future filled with hope and dignity. God made it clear that He is “Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans” (Malachi 3:5).
While society sees widows as a curse, God sees broken, abused, mistreated and unloved women whom He wants to enter into a loving relationship with. Their families don’t want them, but God wants them to be a part of His family.
Like so many widows, Netramani was cast out and left to fend for herself. “I was completely alone. … No one would give me work so I had to beg. … I had nothing to eat, nothing to wear. I was completely senseless and didn’t know anything. . .”
Watch Netramani’s heart-wrenching story and imagine either you or someone you know lying there, sick and helpless and no one stops to help.
…for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ – Matthew 25:35-40.
June 23 is International Widows’ Day, a day when we step into the lives of widows and imagine the desperate places where they find themselves. Some commit suicide rather than face the shame. Others turn to prostitution. Mothers resort to rummaging through the trash in order to feed themselves and their children. These women don’t deserve to be like this. You can change this. Through your donations you will make it possible for local pastors to help widows in need, buy them sewing machines, farm animals, or much-needed supplies like winter blankets, water filters and other essentials. And with your generous gift, these women will have the opportunity to learn about Jesus and His love and compassion for them. To find out more about how you can help, visit http://www.gfa.org/women/widows/
As Christians, we need to demonstrate the love of Christ who reached out to those who were hurting, oppressed and ostracised. He loved the unloved and valued those whom society deemed worthless. Together let us plead for the widows. Let us take up their cause. They have the right to keep their homes, their income and their dignity. Let us contend with those who mistreat them. Let us speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. When we do good to others, we honour God.
A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation – Psalm 68:5.
At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died (Acts 9:36, 37). We don’t know much about this woman except that she was from a place called Joppa, she was a disciple and she made the tunics and garments for the widows in her community and she died from an illness.
The widows mourned her death because of her kindness and generosity toward them. They showed Peter the tunics and garments she had made for them. No doubt they rejoiced when Peter brought her back to life.
Dorcas is a great example of someone who used her talent to bless others. She was good at making garments and she dedicated her time doing just that. In a sense she was serving her community by providing these things for the widows.
What are your talents? Are you a great cook? Do you love writing? What about singing? One of my co-workers likes to knit. She has knitted beautiful baby blankets for other co-workers and me. She makes dresses. She also loves to cook. These are gifts that she has used to bless others. If English is your favorite topic, you should consider tutoring someone who is not good at it. If reading is your thing, think about visiting a nursing home and reading to the patients. If you are a person who loves to cook, think about having a bake sale and donating the money to a charity.
If you like helping people, there are many charities looking for volunteers. You can enter a mentorship program. If you like planting, you can help out at a shelter. If you are great at baby-sitting, why not volunteer to look after the kids at a women’s shelter? You can be a part of the shelter’s Homework Club. The possibilities are endless.
Think of how you can use your talent or hobby to help others. Let Dorcus be your inspiration!
