Andy Sims, Lifeline’s Director of Leadership Development, shares how God is moving through Lifeline’s ministries in Central America…
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“Rosa’s
weathered
face showed
a lifetime of struggle.”
“We prayed a
blessing over her
but went away convinced…
God was way ahead of us.”
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It was my first trip to Guatemala and I was excited to get out among the people. Deybee & Yoselyn, the young couple Lifeline had sent to lead this new work, had only been there for 6 weeks. We were there to learn how Lifeline could help. The car darted through the back streets of San Jose Penula, dodging foot traffic and kids playing in the streets. The rental we pulled up to was typical. Tin roof. Heavy steel door. A sheet hung to separate the living/eating space from the sleeping/dressing space. Clean but cluttered.
Rosa’s weathered face showed a lifetime of struggle. She greeted us warmly but the barriers of language and culture were obvious. When I asked how she’d met Deybee, her eyes lit up and those barriers melted away.
Rosa was a Christian still seeking God, but she’d left the church. Each day she prayed and read her Bible, desperately searching for something she couldn’t define. One day, as she was praying, God told her he would send a man to show her the way. Rosa had no idea what that meant but continued to pray and read, day after day.
One day there was a knock at the door. Deybee had been going door to door through her neighborhood meeting people. While introducing himself, he noticed the open Bible on Rosa’s table. “What are you reading?” he asked, and a friendship began.
“God told me you were coming,” she eventually explained to him. “You’re here to show me the way.”
Now Rosa hosts a house church with Deybee in her simple home. We prayed a blessing over her but went away convinced that God was way ahead of us.
