Looking out the window the sky was painted grey and dreary. We turned the corner into a handful of dirty cream apartments with AC units dangling out the windows. GPS announced we were at our location. My head swerved around looking for the park where we were to meet our team. Stares from those that lived within the community bore into our windows and I quickly realized our white skin was no longer the majority. 

We found our team and unloaded our supplies. Speaking to my children I encouraged them to invite other kids to play with them at the park as they arrived. My two people-oriented children instantly smiled and said a resounding yes. The other two looked a little standoffish at the thought of having to be the ones to engage strangers. 

Not long after we had arrived our tables and food were set out. Bruce and the leader of the outreach team went around and began knocking on doors. Many of the doors would creak open and the stench of weed poured into the open air. 

The park began to percolate with activity. Children were playing basketball and our smaller girls played on the playground with another little girl. Esperanza and I stood by the entrance as people arrived. Many annoyed stares glared back while we welcomed them. Then one young woman with a very tiny baby stood out to me. Walking over to the woman we struck up a conversation. 

She was polite but distracted by her two-week-old baby. She nonchalantly stated she had grown up in foster care and that she did not let her other two elementary-aged children come to the park without her. She did not trust her neighbors to treat her children correctly. 

I surveyed the situation and then asked if her husband was back at her apartment and she looked up at me with her dark brown eyes. 

“Mam, it’s hard to find any good men.” She flatly stated. 

My heart broke watching her look down and straighten her daughter’s blanket. She firmly believed this. Her worldview had been radically shaped by her surroundings. She had only witnessed men who took what they wanted and did not protect or treat women with respect and love. 

She began to gather her children from the park and I asked if we could pray for a quick recovery from her cesarean. She looked up and stated matter-factly;  

“No, mam. I’m fine. Thank you.” 

We watched her and her children walk away from the park with potatoes dragging from the 5-year-old’s arms, and my heart ached. Lord, her worldview had been radically wrecked by men who had taken from her over and over again. And she did not expect things to be any different. 

Over the last several days since this encounter, I haven’t been able to get away from the fact that our worldview truly shapes our thoughts, our actions, and our responses. This young woman had only been around deadbeat men. She had never experienced men who love the Lord and want to champion their wives and children. To her, these men didn’t exist because her experiences had colored her worldview. 

While we go about our day-to-day activities what world views have we picked up that are not true? 

Have we allowed our past or present circumstances to paint what we believe? 

There is but one worldview that is truth and that is Jesus’s worldview. When He says He is ”near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Or “For to those who fear Him, there is no want.” Or “I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalms 39)

All these verses and the rest of the Bible are true. And yet our circumstances and our outward experiences can dictate what we believe truth to be. We can see how people treat us and believe that is how we are meant to be treated always. Or that we will always be poor or we will always be sick.

And yet Jesus is beckoning us to come to Him. He’s crying out to us to wash ourselves with His Word. Letting it wash over us so that our perspective is filled with His truth. 

Today let us commit to studying the Word of God. Allowing the Word to wash over us with Jesus’s truth. Allowing His Word to be the filter by which we live. Allowing His truths to penetrate our hearts and transform our worldview. 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Healing from the tumor in Esperanza’s head and Bruce’s left foot/ankle.

• Blessings over Bruce’s trip to Peru in October. 

• Favor as Kara leads her kids in homeschooling.

• Clarity for Kara as she finishes writing her first-ever 6-week Bible Study.

• Monthly financial partners (Click Here to partner)