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“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (I Timothy 5:8, NKJV)
In April of 2019 my wife, Miriam, received a phone call from her nephew, Eduardo, who lives in San Cristobal, Venezuela. His mother, Angela, Miriam’s sister, and their mother, Paula had been living together as widows for many years and he always checked on them and did small things for them after he had moved out and married his wife, Dahyana. The previous November, Paula had fallen down on the stairs and broke her hip. She had moved into Eduardo and Dahyana’s apartment and they had been taking care of them since that time. He was desperate! He said he could no longer take care of the two of them and was there anything Miriam could do to help him?
We prayed and talked over the options we had. Then we prayed some more and asked others to pray for us. They could not come to the US, because their passports were to expire in two months and their government was in such a state of chaos that it would take 2 years to renew them. We could not go to Venezuela. Miriam is from Venezuela but has been a US citizen since 1982. She has not been able to visit Venezuela since 2002 when the Venezuelan government under President Hugo Chavez decided that any former Venezuelan citizen who returned to Venezuela would not be allowed to leave the country under their new countries passport, and the U.S. State Department told us it was not safe for her to return there. Paula and Angela had received US visas and had last visited us in 2017. The only option we saw was to go to Cucuta, Columbia, a small town on the border of Venezuela, and find a place to live there either temporarily or permanently.
That presented other problems. We didn’t know if we could get them across the border. Sometimes it was open and sometimes it was closed. Eduardo told us stories of swimming the river to buy supplies in Cucuta! We could go right away, but our visas would be good for only 90 days. We could get extensions for up to 6 months or we could find a way to get their passports renewed and bring them to the US. We prayed some more and the only thing we could understand God telling us was: “we have to go!” So Miriam and I started looking at the cost of available rental apartments in Cucuta on the internet, and the price of plane tickets. Our children told us they would support us and help in any way they could. Our youngest, Adam, said he would go with us the first week to help us find a place and get set up to bring Paula and Angela across the border.
We were reading a quote yesterday by Samuel Logan Brengle, Salvation Army Commissioner that perfectly described what happened to us in this adventure that our Lord gave us:
PRAY
1. Lord, thank you for showing us once again, that You are Jehovah Jira, God who provides! Help me today, and everyday to “cast all my cares upon You, because You care for me.”
2. Lord, forgive me when I am afraid to step out and obey the things you have called me to do. Help me today to forgive those who have wronged me and to be bold in telling others about You,
3. Lord, be with our leaders in government, in our church, and in our families. We need to be guided by You and not our own desires and wants. We need You desperately O Lord. Turn us back to You today!
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