Stories from the Field

August 2005

Tsunami: Left with No Legacy

By TA

As each woman came into the medical tent for treatment, we asked them their story. Mother after mother related how they each lost their children, spouses, and other family members. One woman in her fifties told us how she lost all seven children as well as the grandchild her oldest daughter was carrying. Someone pulled her from the water unconscious without even a shirt on her back. She sat before us and said, “I am left with nothing.” Many women voiced similar thoughts, but for a woman past her childbearing years, there will be no remarriage and no legacy left in her children. How can such hopelessness be answered? God’s Word speaks specifically to women in such a situation. Isaiah 54 says, “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband – the Lord Almighty is his name – the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth” (v 4-5).

• Pray that the hundreds of women left childless from this disaster would come to know the passage above as hope for their future. Ask that each woman without a mate would come to know that she can be a bride of the King!
• Pray that God would show Himself to be the great Redeemer for a situation with so little hope. Pray that believers coming into the area to help would lift Him high in order to draw these people to Christ.