Every month, Heaven’s Family helps far more people than we could ever highlight in our bi-monthly newsletter. For that reason, this page contains additional photos and stories of some of the “least of these” among our spiritual family whom we’ve recently been blessed to serve.
Abram's motorcycle bounces along the dusty desert road in the chilly night air. The solitary beam from his headlight seems to search aimlessly into the blackness of night, until finally it finds its mark—a guard shack just ahead. Menacing barbed-wire fences reach into the darkness on either side. If he proceeds, Abram knows he could be in trouble. This is the moment of truth. But what lies beyond the guard shack is worth the risk.
For Premalatha, the prospects of a brighter future were non-existent. She and her siblings were abandoned by their impoverished parents. So they found themselves being raised by grandparents who were afflicted with leprosy and whose only means of survival was begging. Consequently, the children were consigned to India's lowest level of poverty. Living in a leprous community shut all educational doors for them, extinguished any future hopes for marriage, and sealed their tragic fates. Worse, Premalatha was taught by her Hindu culture that they were all suffering for sins committed in their former lives. There was no sense even dreaming.
It was past midnight. Samuel was standing, soaking wet, on the riverbank looking back across the dark water now separating him from his home country of North Korea. Though the night air was cool, he barely noticed. His wildly beating heart was pumping generous amounts of adrenaline throughout his body. I made it!...he thought with elation...I actually made it.
No pensions, no government assistance, and in most cases, no family support. When a woman's husband dies in many parts of Africa, not only does she lose any income he previously earned, but her deceased husband's family confiscates most, or even all, of her property, leaving her and her children destitute. Grinding poverty becomes a daily reality.
It has now been almost 36 years that I've been serving in vocational ministry. Along the journey, I've learned not just a few lessons. How I wish I could have known 36 years ago what I know now! I would have done so many things differently.
Can you remember when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? I was a high school sophomore at a retreat in Oglebay Park, West Virginia. My Young Life leader opened the Word of God to me in a way no one had before. To him I am forever grateful.
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