The smile behind the trials

"Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

James 1: 2-4

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, poverty is defined as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions”.

We tend to believe that our riches or successes are from how hard we worked and that we are entitled to these possessions. If there’s ever a deficit in the success or money we expect, we start to think we are unworthy, we start questioning the goodness of the Lord.

Have you ever been in a situation where you said life isn’t fair or what did I ever do to get a life like this? Have you looked at your surroundings and believed you weren’t doing enough?

I have. I’ve seen poverty first hand, and no matter how much I wanted to pick all the kids up and take them back with me, I couldn’t. I questioned God. How is it okay for kids NOT to go days without eating? How is it fair that they haven’t seen a doctor?

In the midst of breaking down, someone told me. “If you are so upset about experiencing this, imagine how Christ feels”

That phrase hit me like a ton of bricks. God never picks favorites. (Although, we tend to believe he does). Think about it, God uses the poor to bring the rich to Heaven.

I've come to the conclusion that it is because of our selfishness that there are many in poverty.

Participating in my second healing mission for Jesus Youth, I realized Haiti has the most joyful people I have encountered in my life. Although, I’ve been to Haiti before, I caught myself feeling many emotions. Why are we never satisfied with life? Why is it that we have more, but second guess ourselves to give to one another? Why is it that they have close to “nothing” but their hearts are overflowing with joy?

When God is so close to you and cradling you in the palm of His hands, who couldn’t be joyous?

Their trust in God will put mine to shame.

We have to remember that it is our duty as children of God to reach out to our brothers and sisters in need. God uses us to uplift others in poverty. 

As we were visiting an orphanage, the brothers were wearing crosses that only had Christs’ head. This symbolized that they are the hands and feet of Jesus. After that moment, this particular quote resonated in my heart:

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which He is to bless His people.” -St. Teresa of Avila

I know my journey to serve as a missionary is not over. This mission trip has opened my eyes to new horizons, and there is a profound joy in serving. There’s a preconceived notion that one has to be holy to serve, but serving begins within ourselves. It starts with how you treat people; how you attempt to see Christ through everyone you meet. There are many parts of the world that are suffering from poverty, but if we open our eyes and look at our surroundings, who is really in poverty?

St. Teresa of Calcutta said it best:

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”