By Ruth Bowles, IMB missionary kid
EDITOR’S NOTE: Download the February PrayerPoints featuring daily prayer requests for missionary kids around the world. Each month will focus on a different theme or one of IMB’s eight affinity groups.
Alcoholism has its claws wrapped tightly around the souls of the small town I grew up in, here in the Amazon region of South America. There are very few people whose lives go untouched by the darkness and destruction it brings. Mario, too, was engulfed in the addiction. He spent days out drinking, leaving his wife and six children alone. Without support from the husband and father of the household, they struggled. They were a lost family, and Satan was hard at work to keep it that way.
Amid this darkness shone one light: Mario’s mother, Miriam. She was a woman on fire for the Lord. For years, she tried very hard to help her son come to know Jesus, but nothing steered him away from his addiction. In early 2018, my father and a pastor were traveling upriver by boat when a strong storm hit. Little did they know how this random boat stop would change many lives. They stopped at Miriam’s farm, and she kindly invited them into her home. As soon as she learned they were both pastors, she talked about how she wanted a church on her property for her family. Her enthusiasm and fervor for the Lord were contagious. After eight months, a church was built. My family and I took our boat to her house every Sunday for Bible study.
Nayli, Mario’s wife, and the children went to church every Sunday, but Mario wouldn’t. Nayli showed up with bruises and black eyes from Mario getting drunk and beating her. The children became good friends with my siblings and me. Even though we could not understand the situation they were in, the best we could do was love them.
Whether it was the feeling of obligation or conviction, after a couple of months, Mario began to go to church. Slowly but surely, his heart softened. He began to want to go to church, becoming more eager and thirstier for the Word. We saw God working in his soul. Eyes that once glared with darkness and despair now shone with hope. After one year, Mario accepted Christ. A man who lived in sin and alcoholism won’t even touch a can of beer now. Mario is living proof that God can make people make 180 degree turns.
Mario is not the only person that was positively affected by his salvation. His wife and children no longer lived in fear of him hurting them. He began to work and provide for his family. Within four years of his salvation, his wife and three eldest children were also led to the Lord. He even baptized his two daughters, who are my friends. Mario broke the chain of alcoholism in his family, giving his children a chance to live life for the Lord.
God used this story to show me that He can use anyone to glorify His kingdom, no matter what sins have been committed. It can be easy to convince ourselves that we have veered too far off and that God can no longer use us. Mario and his testimony show us that no matter how big our sins are, no matter what life we lived before we found Jesus, God still has plans for us. 1 John 1:9 says, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we repent, no sin is too big for God to cleanse us from, no mistake is too big to be left unforgiven.
Ruth Bowles, 16, lives with her family who serves with the IMB in the Amazon region of South America.