Soul Space

In today's early morning Bible study, Barbara shared her life story, with pictures.  It was a beautiful image of what missions should be:  a foreign woman entering into this rural African culture, but connecting on common themes of caring for siblings, growing up too soon, loss, the pain of bearing a disabled child . .  . and looking, finally, to God.  There were two university-educated teachers present, from CSB, women with dreams and ambitions that might be more similar to ours.  There were a couple of younger women, in their late teens and twenties, who are navigating the changing society.  There were a half-dozen mothers, who may not have much formal education at all, whose world revolves around hoeing in their garden and feeding their babies.  We all sat in a circle and listened, drawn into community by the common elements of Barbara's story, and by the interesting and humble group process of translation.  When she described, like Job, the responses that she received to the extreme physical and mental disabilities of their third child, the women nodded.  Evil spirits?  Lack of faith?  Unconfessed sin?  All of these are real, and all bring fear and blame and despair to a grieving mother.  She led us through Scriptures that grapple with the problem of evil in a very personal way, and show that many of the painful experiences of our lives result from living in a fallen world. I saw this morning the way that someone with a graduate degree, from a wealthy professional neighborhood in a distant country, could breach the gap:  through suffering.  Barbara ended with these words, of hope, promising more next week:

When God hurts you He creates a space in your soul, then He fills it with Himself.