look at something and feel transported back in time to that exact moment when you first saw it? And … you feel the same way as you did then? Do you ever sense the aroma of something, it captures you and brings to mind an amazing recollection? Do you ever feel that way when a fleeting memory invades your mind? And you find yourself smiling?

Do you ever feel that way looking at a picture? Sitting with my computer on my lap scrolling through tons of pictures early this morning in search of one particular one –  I happened to come across many that captured my heart. And…they transported me back to special, impactful times. For me it is like a jolt that pulls me out of complacency and into reality. At times a beautiful reality and at others a harsh one.

It all started in Peru with the demolition of this house and the construction of a new one.

This house was what Marie Luz called home. The house made of scraps of wood and plastic she found. I will never get over that initial sight when we drove up to her home. The feeling is just indescribable. Disheartening, sad, devastated, even nauseous. Yet it was what was needed to drive God’s point home. His call for Action for His Kingdom.

One of the people who benefited from that first day is Ninfa. A beautiful vibrant woman twenty years ago, today you would think that she is much older than her actual age. Time, stress, worry, and life have taken a huge toll on her physically. Yet on the inside she is still the radiant woman of years ago, faithful in her worship, strong in her beliefs, compassionate to others less fortunate than her (sometimes I wonder who could be less fortunate than she is by material standards – but realistically there are many).

Since Trinity’s Angels helped with a major renovation of her home a year and a half ago we have had the opportunity to visit her and see how she and Nina, her daughter, are doing.

Her home before the project started – hard to show the dirt and rotting wood, not to mention the spiders, cockroaches and other insects that “shared” the house with her and her daughter.

Inside view.

The home in the final stages of repair…..

Soon after the house was repaired, she started a “local style” neighborhood restaurant with tables and stools set up right outside the front of her house.  No health inspectors here! The aroma of cooking brought neighbors by and she started selling food. Why? Because she had been given a hand-up. A safe and sanitary place to live and safeguard what little she had. It gave her the impetous to start a business of her own. That is the power of receiving a hand-up and it is from your donations that Ninfa received a small modest place to call home. And it was the force that propelled her into small business to be able to provide for her and her daughter. That is the power and impact of that first picture of Marie Liz’s home which continues to remind us why we are here. People need help.

Last Saturday Ninfa pulled me aside to say how blessed she felt. And she wants to pay it forward! Imagine that!  She had volunteered to help us and was there cooking meals to help with the medical mission. And…she wants to help with The Angel House – a Trinity’s Angels project, in the early stages of planning, to be built for abandoned children. People helping people………

So love how God works……….

In His Mighty Grip looking through thousands of pictures and smiling,

Stephanie

http://www.trinitysangels.org