The first time I ever met Betty was when we interviewed her for a job. We were looking for a new lead mother for our children’s home. We had been searching for some time, but no one seemed to fit the bill for who we had in mind.
It was a big job, being the mother to eighteen children. Some were in high school, but the littlest one was four and always wide-open like a combustion engine. So stamina was high on our list. She also needed to be wise and well-organized, and able to demonstrate outstanding counseling and nursing skills. Above all else, we wanted someone who loved Jesus and could mend hurting children’s hearts.
You may be thinking, “good luck!” Who could do all that . . . not even Mary Poppins. But when we met Betty, we knew we had found our gal. She was a woman everyone loved . . . full of joy and selflessness. She also had a gift for administering healing and helping others view their hard knocks in life through a different lens. Much of that came through her own personal experiences.
Betty lost her husband, David, when she was fairly young. He had been her jolly best friend, who filled her life with laughter. After his death, the people who should have loved and helped Betty most confiscated her land and hauled off her livestock. This created a great hardship for Betty and her five children, but she chose to forgive and free herself from bitterness.
Betty trusted that God would be her husband and make a way for her and her family . . . and He did. As she was struggling to educate her children, several of them received scholarships because they were exceptional athletes.
But Betty faced another heartache when she lost her daughter, Joyce, months before coming to work for us. Joyce had been training as an elite athlete in Kenya when she contacted a bacteria infection. After her death, Betty’s grief was great, but one day she told me, “Joyce was going to do so many things, but God was there and allowed her to do what He had planned. The things Joyce left undone, others will do, and I will be there to help them.”
Betty has done just that and so much more . . . pouring her life into the children at our children’s home (Jireh). She’s their biggest cheerleader and constant advocate. She’s like a balm on their hurts and pains. Sometimes you might see her playfully running after them or laughing in the kitchen as they make bread. Other times you might see her counseling and correcting them . . . but always you will see her striving to bring out the best in them. Betty’s goal every day is to teach them to love Jesus, work hard, treat others with love and kindness, and see the world through the eyes of God.
Several weeks ago, three new children came to live at Jireh. Their names are Daniel, Amos, and Costa. Their arrival was such a beautiful sight as Betty scooped them up and introduced them to their new home. All I could think was, “God had done something GREAT . . . three more precious lives are about to change because He has placed them in this amazing woman’s arms!”
