Go to the lost, confused people … touch the untouchables. You have been treated generously, so live generously (Matthew 10:5, The Message).
The heat was brutal. My back was killing me. I was exhausted from a nearly sleepless night, and I had a pounding headache. Every muscle rebelled against the long flights and relentless van rides it had taken to arrive at this rural village in India. I longed for a relaxing, hot bath, but what I had was a bucket of cold water and a plastic cup with which to bathe.
My outer appearance certainly denied my inner attitude. I plastered what I thought must surely be a spiritual kind of smile on my face in an effort to portray the mercy and love I wanted to share. My husband and I were on a 19-day whirlwind trip to South Africa, India, and Thailand to see the work our church is doing in those areas. I really wanted to think and feel the right things, but I could not seem to get past myself – a familiar struggle. All I really wanted to do was head back inside and take a nap. Instead, I was sitting before a crowd of over 200 people who had come to hear a message of hope.
Lepers came. Men, women, and children of all ages with AIDS came, staring up at me from haunting eyes that mirrored more pain and heartache than I will ever know. A young mother who had just buried her baby wept quietly, comforted by another woman with no fingers and toes, a victim of leprosy. An older man with no feet made his way through the crowd in a crudely built cart pulled by another leper and friend.
Oh, I have been on many mission trips over the years and seen a great deal of poverty, but I had never seen more destitute and broken people or worse living conditions. I cried out to the Father, “What in the world am I doing here, Lord? How can I possibly help these people?” Then I saw him.
Slowly he made his way through the crowd. The man could not walk because he had no legs. Only stubs remained where his hands had once been, but still he came, swinging his mangled body forward on arms and elbows scarred by what must have been a long battle with leprosy.
I thought surely, he would stop at the edge of the crowd and rest, satisfied to have simply made it in time for the meeting, but still he came. I could not take my eyes off him as he inched his way toward me as if I had called his name. Brilliant blue eyes met mine and seemed to ask, “Will you touch me? Will you love me?” In that moment, my heart shattered, and I promptly fell in love. I saw him as he really was – one of God’s precious broken lambs – loved, cherished, planned, and wanted; created by God for God – just like me.
I suddenly reached out and enveloped his mangled body in a fierce hug.
I just had to.
I loved him and I had to do something about it.
As his blue eyes flashed in surprise, a childlike smile captured his face, and he hugged me right back. In that moment, my life changed.
I have been in ministry forever. I have traveled across the United States and the world, speaking for various conferences, retreats, women’s events – you name it. I have been part of many mission trips to dangerous countries. I have written books, articles, and devotions about loving the unlovable and touching the untouchable, but in a moment, in the course of one hug, God dissected and scrutinized my spiritual authenticity and integrity – and found it lacking. It was not only lacking in India, but in my everyday life and the ministry God has given me in the place I call home.
I had come to give hope and joy. I had come to love. I had come to love the unlovable and touch the untouchables. Instead, I had come face-to-face with my own desperate need of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness in my own life. And I am not alone.
Untouchables are everywhere – crippled by sin, broken and lonely, spiritually destitute, and emotionally desperate, facing a death sentence of eternal separation from God. Friends and family members stumble along in crudely made carts of greed and discontent. Instead of reaching out to those who so desperately need to be reminded of and to experience God’s grace and mercy, we have relegated them to a place of judgment with no hope of restoration. I can assure you that no such place exists in the Kingdom or God. God is all about restoration and healing.
If we are brutally honest, there are times when we do not want to see the untouchables. We do not want to touch them or get involved in their nasty lives. We are weary and exhausted. After all, it takes a lot of energy to wear the right mask for the right audience in the right place and at the right time. Our hearts are scarred and callused from fighting the wrong enemy. All we really want to do is slip into a numbing but deadly sleep, hoping that when we wake, someone will have cleaned up the mess, so we won’t have to.
I pray God uses us all to look for and reach out to those who seem to be unlovable, and then ask God to use us to touch those broken people who wait, longing for hope and healing.
– Mary
Mary what a blessing this is! To God be the glory for working so beautifully through you and your husband. I am putting you on my prayer list, that you would continue to be blessed beyond your wildest imaginings!
Mary, I feel the pain you have in your own body, but you always are so up-beat in all of your writings! May God bless you in your ministry of His work!
Wow thank you Mary. I felt deeply and loved every word you wrote. I’m the same but I don’t want to be I deeply want to be what God wants in my life. I needed to read this.
May God richly bless you Mary for sharing this message. You hit the nail right on the head.
Beautifully said and so encouraging and convicting. Thank You for sharing. Help me Lord to see people as You see them🙏🏽❤️🥰😍🤗
Dear Mary, I lost my beloved husband on July 11th . I’ve lived the best 26 year of my life with my husband.Today I’m living the darkest moment in my life. Thank you so much for you message because God spoke to me. I’m so relieved that I do still have a mission and that I’m still important to God. Sometimes God makes us uncomfortable to restore us. I will trust God because he will use my pain to bless other. Thank you so much! God bless you
Mary, I appreciate so very much your wisdom and your shared heart with us in “Do You Really Care.” As I read your beautiful experience, I felt little cracks forming and spreading in my heart and a hurt for the hurting and a warmth of love for those suffering. Similar to the shared comment above, I have followed GFIG for 6 years. Your devotionals have always been an anchor of encouraging light for me, spurring me to hold fast, to keep my eyes focused on our Savior throughout the hardships of rocky paths….showing me where I need to grow and a positive strength to carry me through. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear the rawness of what it means to show and feel the kind if love for others that God yearns for us to feel and share with others. Thank you Mary !
Your message touched me so much because i realized I am broken and only by the grace of God am I His Child. I need to get into my heart what I know in my head that God loves us no matter who we are or what we have done. Sometimes I feel as if I can never love the way that God loves. I see so many broken, so many living in fear and shame and when I can’t reach them, it makes me doubt whether God can use me. But after reading your message I know that God will use me to reach some of them. Thank you for sharing your heart with us.
Wow! Thank you, Mary. I have some soul searching to do.
I’ve been following Girlfriends in God for more than 11 years, and while each one of you had a message for me, you were the one that touched me. You were the one who touched me when I had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and your message inspired a song that God gave to me, which has been shared many times. But I had never seen your website until this morning, and as I read this message that you shared, “Do You Really Care”, I found myself coming up short of what God wants from me. I need some time to pray and consider this. It’s not easy. Thank you for sharing.
Dear Mary, how I am inspired even more than I thought was possible. It is the love put into action that God is calling us all to do. Our family goes to help the people who need it the most~and one thing we have done is to put a little note inside the bag of food and other necessities of life. Our card reads:” We love you and care! God loves you and cares “ I want us to reach out more and share our and God’s love! I want us to be more courageous to love like Jesus loved and loves us, and how you showed love to the man that day!! You have helped so many people, for the glory of our Lord!!! I am forever grateful He has put you my life, and the lives of my family!! Amen 🙏