Let’s make some widows and abandoned women glad!

Dear Friends,

I am so thankful that you and I have the privilege of serving so many needy saints around the world. These are opportunities to love our neighbors as ourselves, not to mention to demonstrate our love for Jesus and lay up treasure in heaven.

This month I want to tell you about an abandoned mother in Romania. Before I tell you her story, however, please take a look at the photo below of her and her four children. They are inside their one-room “house.”

Then take a look at this next photo that shows the exterior of their house.

Finally, look into the eyes of the woman holding the baby in the third photo below.

Now let me tell you her story.

Her name is Ioana. She was born 32 years ago, and she’s been looking for some love all of her life.

Abandoned by her family as a baby, she spent 18 years in a government orphanage, never knowing the love of a mother and father. Rather, she found herself competing for the limited attention of overworked and under-caring staff members.

At age 18, Ioana “aged out” of the orphanage with nowhere to go. She tracked down her birth family, but she was a virtual stranger to them. Sadly, their reception was as cold as a Romanian winter. After some pleading, however, they agreed to let her live in their home—as long as she earned her keep through work. And work she did, like a household slave. Hers was a Cinderella story, but without a happy ending.

When she was 24 years old, Ioana’s “prince” appeared. He was a mentally challenged local man named Dragos. He gave Ioana the attention she craved, and she fell for him. They were married within a year and started having children. But when Ioana was pregnant with their fourth child, Dragos moved to Spain with no intention of returning, leaving the family to fend for themselves.

As an abandoned wife and mother, Ioana now cares for four children on her own—Narcis, age seven, Maria, five, Manuella, two, and her newborn boy, Abraham. She feeds them by washing neighbors’ clothes for money or food.

Thankfully, Ioana’s plight came to the attention of one of our trusted Romanian partners, and through the help of Heaven’s Family’s Widows & Abandoned Women Ministry, her situation has improved significantly. Ioana’s house now has an indoor stove for cooking and heating. The interior of her house has been plastered and painted, and there is a large rug covering the rough, concrete floor. Plus she has some better windows to keep out the cold.

And because of this demonstration of love—for which she has waited for all her life—Ioana gave her own heart to the Lord. In August she was baptized.

I’m glad that Ioana has found the Lord and her children are surviving a little better, but like you, I’d like to see them thrive under God’s blessing. We’d like to further improve her home, maybe adding another room or two. And we’d like to provide her with some chickens and goats so that she can have eggs, milk and meat for her children, and also earn some income. I’d like Ioana to know that she is truly loved by her Father in heaven and her worldwide family.

This is an opportunity for you and me to help, not only Ioana, but other abandoned women and widows like her, not just in Romania, but around the world. Our Widows & Abandoned Women Ministry can always use more resources, because there are always so many needs and opportunities.

No gift is too small (or large). Whatever you give, you’ll be able to say with one of the most righteous persons who has ever lived, “I made the widow’s heart to sing for joy”! (Job 29:13).

Every blessing to you,

David Servant
Founder and President
Heaven’s Family