Local Woman Gives Her Life to Jesus Christ

Janelle and I were gathering food supplies for the pantry yesterday. As we were walking through town we noticed a woman who receives food at the pantry. Her clothes were old and hygiene was not good. She has been rejected by the entire town and she has no one. When she saw us, her eyes lit up and she was so happy to walk with us through town. As we walked through town, you could see the eyes of judgement upon us from others. The glares that people give to the outcast, the one who everyone has judged and treats like trash. As we walked together she began to tell Janelle about her asthma that she was suffering from. Janelle began to speak to her about Jesus Christ and how He is the one who can heal her. She agreed to meet us at the pantry so Janelle could pray for her.

When she sat down with us you could smell an even stronger odor coming from her body. She was embarrassed of how she smelled and was apologizing to us. She spoke about her life and how her deceased husband (scroll down)

loved Jesus and how her son reads the Bible. I looked at her old and mangled shoes, her face so aged from stress, alcohol and tobacco use. People want sex from her as she struggles to find her next meal. She tries to use what little make up she has to cover the pain you can see in her eyes and face. The emotional scars she carries are so heavy and there's no one there for her...everyone has rejected her.

It made me think of the modern church. It is so easy to give to the church (I'm not saying that is wrong) and be amongst your well fed, well dressed brethren. We have meals and gatherings that we share with people who are successful and have very little need. My eyes were opened to this as I looked at her.....where is the church when it comes to people like her? Why aren't the poor being invited into our homes? Why aren't the poor provided for by the church on a regular basis? It's because we have judged them, and this is the exact form of judgment that God has called us NOT to do. Tears well up in my eyes as I write this because my heart is broken.... My heart is broken because we as a church have failed the poor. Jesus said "But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

The poor woman received Jesus Christ yesterday. She cried together with Janelle as she prayed to receive Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour. I can just hear the angels rejoicing as another soul is ready for the Kingdom. We gave her a bible and she was rubbing the top of it as if we handed her a bar of gold. She began to mark pages as Janelle suggested what books in the Bible to read.

Please don't read this as some form of condemnation of the church....my eyes have just been opened, because we can do better.....we have to do better.