Dancing with all her might!

Her name was Carmen. I never saw her walking without crutches and I always thought hugging her was like hugging a skeleton. We first met Carmen down in La Libertad six years ago as she came for food each day. Or we would see her standing on a busy street corner, supported by her crutches, begging for a quetzal here or fifty centavos there. As the years went by Carmen had been hit by various vehicles, buses, motorcycles...causing injuries that eventually left her completely bedridden...except when her children would put her in a baby carriage and wheel her up to the same busy corner to beg. Nice. As we visited her in her small cement block room, she often burst into tears just because someone came to see her. Her body, now seriously just skin and bones had curled into an almost fetal position. One bone in her leg was sticking out in a strange way that...well, we won't describe that or her bedsores that caused so much discomfort. No longer able to walk, her bed was a disgusting combination of dirt and well, we won't go into that either...

A visit with Carmen always left us feeling a lot of emotions. At times we would cry together for how hard and painful this was. We would laugh together just because we were together. But what always amazed us was when Carmen would read God's Words of hope and peace or would sing a song that showed that, in the midst of this physical pain, she knew her Lord was carrying her frail, contorted body through this earthly life. He was truly her refuge and strength.

And now, He has carried her into her heavenly home. Carmen died in December. I admit, as I would think about her lying there day after day, night after night, that I often prayed that He would take her soon, to free her from this earthly existence filled with pain and agony. But I also had to trust His perfect will and timing. Carmen's life touched the lives of so many of her people as well as the Americans who had come to visit her. Until His purpose for her life on earth was completed, she needed to stay. But now and for eternity, Carmen is no longer in pain. Her body is whole and new and she is dancing with all her might!!

Sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning! Psalm 30:5b

Dance, Carmen, dance!!