2-25-10A magdalene

2-25-10
Thursday
22:35

As you walk through the clothes market, you see on all sides, crudely built stands with a platform for the women to sit surrounded boy their selection of second hand t-shirts, belts, jeans, coats, dresses, and every other type of cloth or clothing. Under their reused plastic sheet roofs, which protect them from rain and sun, the women are all eagerly awaiting for someone to show interest in their merchandise. They call the mazungus over to talk and buy and barter prices. Amongst the chaotic colors and shapes and sizes and calls and crooked paths between crooked stands on uneven ground, there is a woman who I simply cal “mama”. The first time I met her I promised I would cut my beard short. The second time, I cut off the rough, boxtie rope necklace that I like(d) so much. Why did I do these things? Because I can not refuse such strong requests made out of such strong Love. This mama makes enough money everyday to live in poverty. She thanks and praises God for that. She looks after the men and young men who work near her. She is a mom to them. Her joy and love for God and her ministry and service and seeking of God is not hindered in the least by her circumstances. She loves me like her son, only because the Love of Jesus burns in her heart and makes her glow. She had me read Isaiah 35 aloud, because it had encouraged her so much when she read it that morning. So sweet! She prayed for Jared and I. such a fervent and powerful prayer. She lives in perpetual, constraining poverty, yet she is one of the richest and freest people I know.
She has Life to the fullest (John 10:10). Even in her lacking, she has a continual feast (prov 15:15). (prov 13:7). Her name is Magdalene.