When God Breaks Our Hearts

After visiting Lucy and her family I asked our contact from DIF, Claudia, if she could think of another young mother that we might be able to visit the next day. She immediately shared with me that she thought God was laying it on her heart to introduce us to a mother by the name of Oti. She explained that Oti lived just a few minutes from the DIF offices, and that her husband had recently passed away, leaving her alone with a number of children.

Now, I don't like to think of myself as being numb, or hardened at all, none of us do, right? But I have to confess that my mind already began to make judgements about the situation. I thought to myself..."They only live five minutes from the DIF (social services) offices, how needy can they be?" I was wondering why on earth we were going to see this women, who certainly couldn't be all that needy, and it wasn't even the type of situation that I had requested to see. I should have known all along that God has a special appointment in mind.

The next day we pulled up in front of Oti's house. We approached the house and Claudia stopped us to explain a little more about the situation. She explained that Oti's husband had just died of AIDS, leaving her with absolutely nothing - leaving her alone, sick, in need of a hernia operation, and fending for herself and her eight children, ranging in age for 14 to 6 months.

We entered her home, and I was immediately struck by the horrendous conditions in which they lived in. A family of 9 - living in what I can best describe as a space that might be used by an auto mechanic - it was a space with one bedroom, one full-size mattress, two hammocks, a make-shift kitchen, and a bunch of things that I personally was thinking needed hauled off to a dump. Nonetheless, this was the HOME to this family of 9.

They literally had almost nothing. They had little to know food. Her children had no shoes. Not one of the 8 children are enrolled in school. The 14 year old dropped out of school after first grade, but not one of the others have ever been in school.

The mother explained to us her recent feelings of desperation. How she barely has enough to feed her children, let alone buy them shoes, or pay for the things they would need to attend school. She shared that on many occasions she has considered giving her six month old son away.

In that moment God broke my heart. He broke my heart for this woman. He broke my heart for her children. He broke my heart for their situation. He broke my heart for the things that break His heart.

I was moved by this woman who desperately desires to fight to keep her family together. I was moved by the fact that we as a family, and as a ministry, need to help this women to do just that. It's just one case, but it's one more reason why I believe God has brought us to Cancun. He has intersected our lives with one mother, and her 8 children. God has allowed us to step in, and play a part in helping to keep a family together as we seek his wisdom and creativity to solve the orphan problem, one child at a time.

Some of Oti's children

Mau and Mauro (a new friend) talking with Oti