There Is NO Food in This House!

Nancy with her sweet Susan

"There's no food in this house!"
I've heard this said by many - I've actually said it a few times myself!
Times that I didn't have all the ingredients that I might want for a meal, or was having trouble figuring out what to cook for dinner, or hoping that Brad would agree to take our family out for the evening!

The truth is, there is plenty of food in our house!  We could probably go a week eating off the supplies that I have stored!  Maybe in some strange combinations, but none-the-less - there IS food in our house!

The daily chore of Nancy and every other mama in our community - to buy water and carry it home

The contrast hit me the other day, as we rushed Nancy to the hospital.  Nancy is a mama of 5 beautiful children.  She was in intense pain - we realized later that without the medical help she received, she probably wouldn't have survived!

When we thought to ask the next morning, Nancy told us, "There is NO food in the house."  So, her 5 children had gone the night without eating... anything!

And, the contrast became so stark to me! 

There really was NO food in their home!

You see, Nancy wakes up every morning, figuring out how to get money that day to feed her children that night.  While the bead work at Girls With Vision has helped her immensely, she has struggled to learn how to make one of our styles of bracelets - thus, she can only work when we have orders for the easier style.

So, on the days when there aren't bracelet orders, she is praying that someone will hire her to wash their clothes or clean her home.   And if there in no job on those days, then there is NO food in the house!

And, this is the existence of many of the mamas in our community!  

In many ways, Nancy is one of the lucky ones!  The truth is, that as a part of the Girls With Vision community, if she has no food, we will always help her family - if we realize it!  Usually, we can give her some extra bead work (that we hope will be ordered in the future) - and let her earn the money she needs.  Sometimes, we just help with a sack of groceries - which we try to keep on hand.

As we continue to reach out to more families in our community, we pray that through God's GRACE, hope will come into this day-to-day struggle.  We have recognized in so many ways, that while food and work are good and necessary (and we do our best to help in these areas) - they are not what bring HOPE!

While Nancy goes about her days, with struggles that most of us could never imagine, she carries God's grace - which she encounters at Girls With Vision -  in her heart.  And the truth is, she SMILES more and COMPLAINS less than most of the people I know who have a kitchen stocked with food!

Maybe this will bring a little perspective... for me and for you!

Please comment if you have a thought about these contrasts... so stark!

The first time I met Nancy - making soap - for home or for business - together

And, I had to add this photo in of Susan, Nancy's daughter because I think it is so beautiful!