Lucy Has a Family!

Lucy remembers feeling unloved and rejected all her life. When she was just a young girl she learned that because she was not a boy, her father didn’t love her. Lucy told us, “My father was so interested in my brothers’ educations but would not send me to school. Instead, he would send me to pick them up from school with a bicycle and bring them home. My father would always tell me, “Hurry, hurry and pick up your brothers before it is late, and don’t let wild animals devour my sons.”

Eager to leave home, Lucy married at a young age hoping to find love. But Lucy was unable to have a child, and her husband married a second wife who had many children. Once again, Lucy felt unloved and like she was in a family where she didn’t belong. Although she had happy times through the years, she mostly felt alone. Then when her husband died in their old age, she found herself with the help of no one.

When one of our discipleship leaders (Eric) found Lucy, she was struggling for her very existence. She was living in a dilapidated mud hut with one side of the roof caving in. Food and water were an everyday challenge, and she had no bed or blanket, only a little worn-out animal skin to lay her head on at night. But what bothered Lucy most, was not having a lantern to see snakes if they entered her home at night.

Seeing Lucy’s plight broke the hearts of Eric and his discipleship group, and so they immediately went to work. The men rebuilt Lucy’s house and cleaned up the surrounding debris to reduce the chance of snakes. The women shared the little food they had and loaded her up with water.

Then they presented Lucy with a blanket, mattress, and solar lantern (thanks to the support of EWT Partners). Lucy was completely overwhelmed! Never in all her life had she been loved like this, and she was eager to listen when Eric told her about the love of Jesus.

Lucy made a decision to follow Jesus that day and has stayed the course with vibrancy. She never misses a church service or discipleship meeting, and you will often find her jumping around saying, “Jesus is so good to me!”

Lucy told us, “When I saw the discipleship members come and rebuild my hut, it did something to let me know God loves me. I have now given my life to following Jesus and there is so much happiness in me. And even though I am a widow and have never given birth, I am now with a family who loves me.”