Jesus is Enough

I sat out back at Rosa's table as she cried and shared with me all of the difficulties going on in her life. Financial difficulties, relationship problems with her husband and sons, and health issues. Having worked with people from these communities for over two years now, I have learned that I have very little that can fix their problems. So I sit...and I listen...and I pray. I pray that Rosa's family would find consistent income. I pray that her husband would step up and lead their family. But mostly, I pray that these difficult circumstances would lead Rosa to know that God is enough.

As we continue to talk, a lady named Estela from a nearby community walks in. She sits. She smiles. Her eyes sparkle as if she is hiding something from us. But she is dirty and sweaty from walking the hot dusty roads pushing her wheelbarrow, selling vegetables. She slouches when she sits as if she is too tired to hold herself up anymore. Selling vegetables out of a wheelbarrow wouldn't exactly be a job I'd suggest for any 55 year old woman. Yet she gently asks us how we are doing and then calls for Rosa's granddaughter, Johanna. She comes running up as Estela pulls two pairs of gently used shoes out from behind her back. Johanna tries them on, says thank you and runs off like most 5 year old children do. As I watched Estela joyfully give those shoes away, I couldn't help but notice that she didn't even have shoes that fit her. She had been walking around all day on the backs of her shoes because her own shoes were too small. I asked her if she had another pair for herself. She didn't. Rosa informed me that she had shown up at her house a few days before but barefoot. I was shocked. What kind of person walks around giving away necessary things when they don't even have them themselves? Yet to be honest, I knew the answer. I'd met Estela several times before and she is the rare type of person that doesn't do much else but sing or talk about Jesus. For her, Jesus is enough.

To be honest, next to Estela's faith, mine feels small.

But I hope that in both the good times and bad, that I too, much like Estela, will be able to say that Jesus is enough.