Results of Living Acts 2

Last month we had a couple of posts about trying to live with an Acts 2 type of mentality (go here and here to read those) as the house church that meets in our house gave sacrificially to a woman named Leni to allow her to go visit her sick sister in the interior of our state.

Because of the sacrificial giving of her church family, Leni was able to go and spend some time with her sister. She came back and told us that her time with her sister was incredible. That she was able to share the love of Christ with her sister as they spent time together in the hospital. God used Leni to help her sister get better and to even be able to leave the hospital.

Leni returned home with her 11 year old niece. She wanted to give her sister some recovery time without having to deal with all the responsibilities of parenting. To give total focus on recovery.

Leni's niece, Camila, was here in our house on Sunday. She loved this house church and especially fell in love with Ansley, who led the kids small group study time. She is a sweet little girl with an incredible smile. We all fell in love with her instantly.

This morning at a little after 6:00 we got a call from Leni. Her sister had died suddenly. We told her we would be right over.

We got to their house around 7:00. Leni had not been to Camila's room yet to wake her up to tell her about her mom. We were there when she did it. It was, as you can imagine, a very tough thing to be a part of. We then listened as Camila called her dad and spoke with him for the first time since her mom died. It almost killed me. I started thinking of me talking to our kids for the first time if something happened to Benay and what that must have felt like for Camila's dad.

Through all this sadness I was reminded of God's goodness.

I was thankful that Leni called Benay so early in the morning to share her grief. Human nature is to wait for a later time to call so not to bother, or just deal with this stuff yourself. Benay was the first person Leni called for help as soon as she found out about her sister. I believe this closeness comes from the bonding we share in our house churches. As Leni shared before, for the first time in her life she feels like she has a real family and that she is not alone anymore.

Our house church had enough money to once again give to Leni so that she, her son, and Camila could take the 4 hour drive to the funeral today. (Usually in Brasil people are buried in about 24 hours or less.) She will also have enough money to go back to the home city of Camilla to continue taking care of Camila and her family for a while.

But most importantly, we praise God for Leni being able to make that trip last month to be with her sister. During the most difficult part of this morning Leni looked up and shared how thankful she was to have been able to be with her sister. She feels strongly that she was sent there by God and was able to share His love with her sister during that time.

Benay and I are so thankful that we were able to witness Acts 2 in action. People giving freely to help a brother or sister in need.

Because of that sacrificial giving we believe that heaven has one new house guest today. Praise God for the way He is using and growing His family here in Porto Alegre.