The Beauty of an Open Heart

Our group is named after a real woman. As a single woman she had the daily pressures of running her business in a male dominated society. At one time she may have been married and was either widowed or abandoned by her husband. More than likely her business was begun by her husband, but when she was left without him she continued to work hard at making it thrive in order to provide a living for herself and her household. Lydia was a woman of faith and the bible introduces her to us by telling us that the Apostle Paul ("Apostle" meaning someone who was chosen by Jesus) first met her alongside a river as she was meeting for prayer with a small group of women.

What struck me so about her story today as I reviewed it in Acts chapter 16 of the Bible, is that even though Lydia had faith in God there was more that God was offering her. If Lydia had been content to keep going as she had been, content to stay where she was in her understanding of God feeling that her knowledge of Him was all she needed to know, we would never have known about her. As we first learn about Lydia she does have a belief in God, but it's a belief that left her on the other side of a barrier which separated her from really being close to Him. There was more that God had for Lydia then just an understanding of His power in creation and His greatness over things. God used Paul to bring a special message to Lydia, God extended to her an invitation to enter a sweet relationship with Himself. But, in order for Lydia to enter that relationship she'd have to have an open heart. Look at how Luke (the author of the book of Acts and traveling companion of Paul) describes the meeting with Lydia.

Acts 16:13-15
"On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira (Philippi), who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was spoken by Paul. After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, 'if you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.' And she persuaded us."

Did you see it? "The Lord opened her heart to pay attention..." She didn't stay where she was in her understanding of God; she followed the path that God was showing her to a deeper relationship with Him. Jesus Christ is the one that cut through the barrier, a barrier made by our sin, and blazed a trail that leads to being family with God. Jesus did that when he died on the cross and took the punishment that had to be paid for (Lydia's, yours and mine), the punishment that we were being shielded from by the barrier!

If you have not taken that path yourself yet but feel that your heart is being opened, please don't hesitate to follow Christ. Tell him how you feel and that you believe in him. Then please tell someone that you know of who follows Christ so that they can pray with you. If you already are headed up the path with Christ, be aware that all along the way we continue to have wonderful opportunities for more "heart openness" and deeper intimacy with our God.

Lydia Women in Africa

When I began recording my thoughts about the trip to Africa on this blog I hoped that it would fit with the purpose of our ministry. I did not realize just how appropriate it would be.

Before I arrived my African friend, Marthalene, distributed registration forms to all the women who planned on attending one of the workshops. These registration forms asked for basic information: name, address, marital status, number of children in the home, as well as church affiliation questions. The registration forms were collected by Marthalene and she made sure that we had an equal number of women plan on attending on each of the first five days of instruction. I was not given the registration forms until the end of each day.

At the end of the day, back in the guest house that I stayed at, I read over the forms in hopes of better acquainting myself with the women who attended that day. Each day, as I read over the sections on marital status, and number of children in the home, it was clearer and clearer that most of the women in these workshops, and possibly most of the women in Liberia, were "Lydia Women".

I began asking the women questions about their lives and if they had been married. Some had, most had not. It was common that for the women who had been married that after having a few children their husbands left, finding a woman who had more education or just simply left. Some women were widows, others had not been married but were hopeful that the men who fathered their children would take care of them.

As I write this I hope that it is understood that no judgment against these women is intended. Their survival through the bloody and lengthy civil war is a triumph. The damage that was done to their country is evident on the surface everywhere you look. At every turn there are empty looted homes, roads in terrible disrepair, garbage strewn about, poor medical facilities, horrible drainage or sanitary systems...and the list could go on. But, the damage that I was faced with most directly, and the damage I was hoping to address was precisely the damage done to the human heart. And that damage was evident in the eyes of each of these women.

These women have all lived through more than I can imagine. Most of them are Lydia Women. Most of them shoulder the responsibility on their own to care for their families. Quite often their families include children that are not even theirs, but who were given to them to raise.

I am sure that as the weeks go on I'll have more reflections on all that I experienced, but what I hope to communicate now is that even with the intense daily suffering, these women walk in faith. They do not merely "hope" that God hears them when they pray, they really KNOW God hears. And that solid faith is evident in their praise. Wow, how they can praise God! They love Him so much, they are excited to learn more about Him and oh how they love to sing to Him!

May we all love God with a love like theirs that does not doubt, and does not hold back our expression of joy!!

Shelly