This past weekend, my team and I got the chance to meet up with a few friends and do some touristy things in a lake town a little over an hour from where we are staying. Atitlan lake is a massive lake surrounded by volcanos and mountains and dang is it breathtaking. It truly is one of those places that makes you look around at creation and wonder how anyone could decide to not believe in God because it just testifys to His glory!
Being that it is such a beautiful place, it draws people from all around the world, making it a very touristy town.
God broke my heart for some of His people this weekend as well as convicted my heart. Fabrics are huge here, and at every free space on the street it seemed like there was someone selling some type of fabric or good, whether it was hats, scarves, towels, or anything else made of fabric that you could think of. Often people walk up and down the street, holding their goods on their head or on their backs and trying to sell them.
Often the people selling these goods were either little kids or elderly women. I was walking down the street with my friend and a realization smacked me in the face. All of my grandparents who I love a lot are retired and have been for years, they don’t have to work like these women who sit out all day and they never will have to. Women my grandparents age and older were sitting on the sides of the streets in the hot sun, sometimes shoeless, trying to sell things to me. It broke my heart a bit, I would never want my grandparents to have to be working as hard as some of these women were.
As white people from the States; “gringos” as we are called here, we are perceived to have money and are thus often followed around by the vendors. Going though a crowded market can actually be a bit overwhelming when people are just shouting at you from every direction trying to sell you things.
It’s been a spiritual dilemma for me every single time. I can’t shell out my money to every single person even if I wanted to, I could never have enough. In the long run would me buying one thing really help all that much anyway? What if me buying something from them is the difference between their child getting something to eat or not?
I’ve been throwing these questions back and forth in my head and with my friends all weekend. On Monday morning our host was explaining what ministry would look like this week and in doing so, inadvertently gave me some truth I needed about the topic. This week we will be going out into the community to pray for people. I’ve mentioned this is prior blogs but Juan believes strongly is providing people with food because in the bible it says when people are hungry to feed them. Plain and simple. This morning, he said that while that is true, the most important thing we could give people is the Bread of Life. Jesus Christ.
Feeding people is important; incredibly important. BUT, if all we ever do is provide people with their physical needs we’ve missed the whole point entirely. The most important thing you can do for someone is to introduce them to the Lord that provides for you.
That truth is not an excuse to not bless people with what the Lord has given you to steward. Here’s the conviction part of the realization. I couldn’t have provided for every single person on the street, but what if I wouldn’t have bought coffee this weekend, which I didn’t need. There is someone who could have eaten from that money and I could have prayed with them as well, I completely missed that opportunity.
Honestly, I’m struggling with how to say this in a tactful way; but Guatemalans who spend their days selling to tourists look at us as monetarily being worth more than themselves. Realistically this is true 99% of the time. As far as money goes, any single person that is traveling as a tourist likely has way more money than the people selling on the streets.
My fear is that some of them may confuse monetary status with human worth and believe our lives are worth more than theirs. Ugh is that a lie from the pit of hell. It’s a lie when we compare ourselves that way in the US, and it is a lie here.
This is what God says about the women and children selling on the street and about each one of us:
“Indeed the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7)
-You are deeply known and the value of your life and how God sees you is far greater than you could ever ask or imagine.
“But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
-There is not a single person on this earth who through faith wouldn’t be given the title of a son or daughter of Christ. There is room for all of us at the table.
I would like to ask specifically that you would pray with me for the women and children of Guatemala who walk up and down the streets every day selling goods. Pray that they would never waver in their knowledge of Gods goodness. Pray that they would know how valuable they are in the eyes of the Lord. Lastly, pray that God would bring food home to their families and simultaneously that He would open their eyes to their worth. I pray they would each know that their worth is defined by Whose they are; they are far more than what they can bring home.
