On Tuesday, October 10th we held our third MOPS meeting. It was a lovely time with a speaker on nutrition and health of children - a topic that was of great interest to the moms. We had several new women present. I am always interested to hear who the new women are and how they found out about MOPS. This week there was a sweet petite mom with her one year old daughter. I inquired from Kay, our MOPS mentor, (who had spent time speaking with the woman) about who she was and how she found out about MOPS. Kay told me that this woman had actually come to the church looking for a pastor and that she had come around the day before as well looking for the pastor. She had recently discovered she was pregnant and her husband kicked her and their one year old baby out of the house. He simply could not afford to care for his children and the thought of another baby was too much. He told the woman that before she could come back home she must give the one year old away to someone and that she must not have anymore children. She and her infant slept in a church the night before and they were desperate for help. She said she wanted to return with her child to where her parents lived but had no resources. Kay gave her the bus fare (about 20 dollars) and she gave her the left over food from our MOPS meeting. The woman was beyond grateful. Can you even imagine being in her shoes? She had not one penny - no diaper bag, no car, no cell phone - just the clothes on her back and her baby girl.
I know that there are a lot of details missing from this story that I do not know - but what I do know is this. MOPS in Mexico is changing lives and offering hope - perhaps not in the same way it does in the United States but each meeting we have had has been used by God to seriously impact women.
In my past I have been used to a MOPS where we swap ideas on romantic dates, brainstorm on Christmas traditions we would like to start in our family, or listen to discussions on different schooling options for our children - all of these things were valuable and useful to me and I anticipated we would do similar things in MOPS here. Yet every MOPS I am struck but the harsh reality of how hard life is here in Mexico City for women and their children. Conversations at the tables have been centered on what to do in abusive home situations and where women will get money for food for their children.
The experiences are so very different - but one thing remains the same. We have a Savior that loves us and cares about our deepest needs. We have hope because we have the promise of eternal life. And we have the Lord's promise that His grace is sufficient to carry us through every hardship and every trial.
