- Encouragement for Today

Where Will I Be Left Standing?


“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.” Revelation 7:9 (NLT)

Sometimes the most profound lessons are learned in the most humble settings. That was true for me one day sitting in a blue cinder-block house in the mountains of Ecuador.

“What do you like to do with your free time?” I asked Dolores, a petite woman with sparkling dark eyes who lived there with her six children.

Through an interpreter, she explained that she enjoyed getting up at 4 a.m. to embroider the exquisite works of art adorning her children’s clothing. In her “free time,” Dolores was working to help her family. But as I continued to listen to her story, I learned something sacred was happening in those rare moments of silence.

Before our group left her home, my friend Luann asked Dolores two final questions: “How can we pray for you? What’s your greatest need?”

In the pause that happened while our interpreter did her work, I looked around Dolores’ snug house and made a list for her. “Lord, please give my new friend Dolores carpet for her floor and a ceiling to replace the plastic sheeting. Give her extra food in her kitchen and beds for all those children. Give her husband a job here, instead of far away so that she can have some help raising them … ”

When the interpreter told us her response, however, Dolores’ request was much different than mine. She said, “Please pray for me to teach my children to love the Lord all the days of their lives. That’s my greatest need.”

Dolores is a woman with an eternal perspective.

How has she gained it? From hearing about her life that day, I knew the beautiful answer. Dolores sits with Jesus before her children wake up each day. At 4 a.m., she’s embroidering and listening to Him. She stitches and she prays, so although she’s physically impoverished, she’s spiritually rich. Dolores knows the truth, and she lives it. That truth has changed everything for her.

This is a lesson I’ve learned over and over as I’ve listened to, watched and read stories from women all over the world …

Like the woman in India who meets Jesus and now understands the peace that settled on her when God’s Word was read to her.