Going

Divorce was not an option for Rose, but her husband just walked out 15 years ago, leaving her in a pit of debt and two young daughters to raise.

Rose didn’t buckle. She turned her situation over to God, got some counsel about finances, and began to dig out.

Today, she lives in the same small house but it’s paid for. She has no debt and her daughters are now on their own, both followers of Jesus.

Today Rose recycles carefully, nurtures her old car, and tends to the details because she is a world traveler. She works as a librarian in a school in Texas and sets money aside monthly for her next trip.

For the last 4 years, Rose has spent two weeks each summer in the Yucatan. One year she was able to slip over to Cuba for several days. She’s taught Vacation Bible Schools and helped with outdoor evangelism outreaches.

This year, she spent a week venturing into a youth detention center in the cool of the evening, where teenage boys are imprisoned. “They are guilty until proven innocent,” she told me.

Omar caught her heart early. “I was outside a store,” he told her, “when my friends went inside and stole some things. Maybe I shouldn’t have waited for them.” Omar got four years in the detention center for waiting for them, but Rose has given him a Bible and he has given his heart to Jesus.

“Please pray for me,” he told her. “It’s hard in here to stay with Jesus.”

Rose will pray. And she’ll be back again next year.

Jesus told his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matt 28:19)

It can be done, even by a woman shackled with debt. Start praying about how you’ll go.