Death, illness, theft stretch believer
Gustavo, a Guanano believer, continued to trust God through difficult times.
Gustavo and his fellow believer, Jhoni, work each morning with missionary Lindy Drake to prepare lessons on the book of Romans to teach in the church.
They were working through the verses about the hard things God brings into our lives to produce patience and endurance. Just as they were discussing the verses , some of Gus’s children rushed in to tell him he was needed at home. His daughter had just delivered a stillborn child. On top of her grief over her loss she had malaria and was seriously ill. As the ambulance raced through Lindy’s back yard, he decided to give up trying to prepare lessons.
Later that day Gustavo was closing up the little café he runs in town and laid a bag containing two months profit – approximately $1,000 US – on a table, then turned to secure the metal door. When he turned to pick up the bag, it was gone.
“Two big blows landing on Gustavo’s family the same day; God now had his full attention,” wrote Lindy. “Because we had been talking about these very things and how God uses the hard times to grow us up, Gustavo was actively seeking God’s presence in the middle of all the chaos.”
God heard Gustavo’s plea. As a cousin began to accuse him of causing the death of his grandchild, he was initially angry but a strong impulse told him to bite his tongue and pray that his cousin would see God in his calm reaction.
The loss of money was also a huge blow. He had to tell his landlord, a fellow believer, that he did not have rent money for the store. The landlord looked at the security tapes had and saw the three culprits. The young kids were filmed grabbing the bag and running off.
Odilom, his landlord, helped him to find the offenders and when confronted they admitted to taking the money. Odilom wanted to involve the police but Gustavo encouraged him to trust the Lord to resolve the issue. Eventually a portion of the money was returned.
“Gus’ faith has definitely been stretched and strengthened through these hard things, just as God had promised. Please pray that the Lord would continue to teach His Guanano people to trust Him in the good times and in the bad,” Lindy wrote.