I couldn't wait to get home tonight. The drive from El Montaña to our home seemed to take forever. I was excited, not for what I would find at home, but for what I had just experienced under a guanabana tree as the afternoon cooled off into evening.
Let me back up. For several years I have been discipling women in El Montaña. It is really two areas about a half mile apart on an incline of THE highway to Jarabacoa. The women who have been most eager to grow live in the upper part, where the church is located.
For a long time I have wanted to begin to help the women of lower Montaña grow, but their interest has always seemed fleeting. A few months ago, after much prayer that God would move in lower El Montaña, the women from the Bible study in upper Montaña approached me with the idea. They wanted to go to lower Montaña and have Bible study to motivate the women to begin studying the Bible. At about the same time a woman (from lower Montaña) returned to church after a long absence and said she and several others wanted to start a Bible Study in lower Montaña. That was the green light I was waiting for.
At the beginning, I picked up the "uppers" and drove down to the "lower" and we studied together. I am acquainted with most of the women who attend the "lower" study. The fact that 2/3 of the are related to one of the founders of the church helps! Although several women visited at the beginning, only one new acquaintance continued to attend. I will call her "Johanna." Johanna has three grown children, with one still living with her. I gave her a Bible and reading glasses during the first weeks of the study.
Last week I visited everyone instead of Bible Study. It had been raining all day, some were sick, and I wanted to spend some time getting to know Johanna better. Johanna has raised all her children in small scrap wood house. She was very happy to invite me into her living room. It was dark as the power was out and it was cloudy. The wooden shutters were closed against the rain. I noticed she had some Catholic icons on a shelf, so I asked if she attended mass regularly. She said, "Sometimes I go, but I have a friend who is an Adventist, so sometimes I go with her on Saturday. I will go anywhere to ask God's favor in my life." We talked some more and she revealed that her bed had gotten soaked by the rain because her zinc roof was so old. Tears came to her eyes, and she began to pour out the many hardships she was facing: a son's illness, lack of work and money, debt, her children's frustration in not being able to study or find work. Many times we had prayed for God's provision during Bible Study. "I don't mind being poor," she said, "but right now the trials are just too much. I have been playing the lottery hoping maybe God will bless me with a win to take care of my problems." We prayed again together and I encouraged her to save her money and not waste it on the lottery as God did not bless gambling.
I left with a heavy heart and a desire to share the hope of Christ with her. This week I got that chance. Shortly after I arrived for Bible Study, Johanna came hustling down the lane all dressed up. "Oh, Rebecca! I made it back from La Vega...I told my daughter we had to hurry because I didn't want to miss Bible Study. I am going to change into something cooler. Don't start without me!"
We studied Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4. Jesus breaks cultural barriers to speak to a Samaritan and a woman besides. He offers her living water and challenges her to worship God in spirit and in truth instead of following tradition. The woman recognized Him as the Messiah and runs off to tell her friends and family to come and hear His life giving words.
After Bible study, Johanna and an other woman were talking in front of her house about Johanna's troubles with her ill son. I sat down with her and asked if she would like to talk more. "Of course!" she replied. I asked her what she was doing specifically to put these problems in God's hands.
Her reply was something like, "I pray, I pray all the time hoping God will hear me. I have tried to raise my children well. I want God to help me."
So I asked her if she was sure she could trust God.
"I try, I really try," she said.
"Do you know if you will go to heaven when you die?" I asked.
"Oh, who knows that?" she said, looking to she sky. "I hope I have done good things. I haven't done anything really bad, like some people."
"Of course not." I said. "Do you think the Samaritan woman was more good than bad, if you put it on a scale?"
"She was good."
"So she would go to heaven?"
"I don't know."
"What about her sin? She had had five husbands and was living with another. That was wrong, yes?"
"Yes."
"Did Jesus say she was good enough?"
"No."
"What did he say to her?"
"He offered her living water, so she wouldn't be thirsty any more. Water that gives life."
"Yes, that is eternal life. It was water for her soul. Does your soul need life-giving water, Johanna?"
"Oh yes. But I don't know if I deserve it."
"Did Jesus make the Samaritan woman earn it?"
"Umm, I don't think so."
"It was a gift he offered her," I replied. "You can have that gift too." Johanna already knew she had sinned (Romans 3:23 and 6:23). She also knew that Jesus had died on the cross to pay the price for sins (Romans 5:8 and John 3:16). She knew Jesus offered forgiveness (I John 1:9). But she hadn't put it all together and taken hold of it for herself. She was striving to please God, but very conscious of how she failed.
I asked her the following questions after we had reviewed the above verses. Do you think you have sinned? Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe He carried your sins on Him when He died? Do you want His forgiveness? She answered yes to each one.
"But I feel like I am always asking Him to forgive me and hoping He will accept me," she said.
So we turned to 1 John 5. This puts it all together. I wanted to emphasize verse 13: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."
"Johanna, you can KNOW for sure that you have Jesus' life giving water, eternal life. You don't have to "hope" you deserve his favor. Isn't that great?"
Johanna nodded, wiping tears from her eyes and we prayed.
"Now this is done." I said, "No more turning back, no more questioning if you deserve God's attention. This makes you His child and He takes care of His children. He always hears His children when they pray."
The smile on Johanna's face was priceless and her anxiety had been replaced with peace. I showed Johanna some Bible passages to read during the week that would remind her of her new relationship with Jesus. We said our goodbyes and I crept in my SUV down the narrow dirt road to the highway.
I couldn't wait to get home and share with Rick and the kids that we had a new sister in Christ. Johanna had taken the important first step. In the weeks and months to come, I pray that her faith will grow and deepen so that she will continue to walk with God through all the trials that face her.
