Guest Editorial. . . by Mary Maxson   Women's Ministries Director North America Division

HELPLESSLY HOPEFUL

It was a dreary, dreadful Monday. I hurried into the county hospital where I was a chaplain's associate. However, it wasn't like one of my habitual visits to the Critical Care Unit. This time it was to visit a college friend. Her 54-year-old husband had entered the hospital the Thursday before. His status was grave.

As is my custom, I minister to the family first: listen, talk and pray with the hurting relatives.  However, this time it was different as it was my friend and coworker. As I listened, prayed and cried (holding her hand), I realized his condition was getting worse, not better.

Hope was in the tone of her voice. Hope that God would perform a miracle and reverse the effects of this almost always fatal infection. Hope that her husband would come out of this chemically induced coma and be there for two weddings soon to come, and walk his daughters down the aisle. Hope that all would be well. Helpless. She couldn't make him better. Helpless. I couldn't make him respond. Helpless. The nurses who were attending to him moment by moment -- helpless. The doctors trying every trick they know, but -- helpless.

Peacefully he died. The helpless loved ones and friends grieved -- helpless but hopeful in the soon coming of Jesus. "If our hopes seem to be experiencing disappointment right now, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and of God. But one of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God. He brings fulfillment, "because you have kept My command to persevere..." (Revelation 3:10). My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, Feb 22.

It is when we are helpless that our precious Lord and Savior surrounds us with His presence. It is in this hopefully helpless state when He begins His good work in us. It is when we come to the point of no return that Jesus kicks in to lift us up to His desires.

Have you ever been helplessly hopeful? Have you been seeking, hoping, desiring, dreaming some mountain-top experience, only to go there and find out that you are helplessly hopeful?

I've realized through life's tragedies that even when I question why, even when I just can't understand the why's, even when there is no explanation, God's love, compassion, mercy and grace is still there helping us, lifting us, holding us in this helplessly hopeful condition. His promises are filled with His compassion for us.

Isaiah 43 is a chapter which I go to often. The Lord is reminding us of how He sees us. His words are descriptive. His words are poignant of His passion toward us whom He adores. He never stops thinking about us. He's crazy about us. He longs for that same relationship to be reciprocated. He loves us no matter what we are doing. His love for each of us is all consuming, even to the death of the cross.

"Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. Salvation is yours the moment you look." My Utmost for His Highest, 
Jan 1.

As we continue being helpless in ourselves we have the privilege of being hopeful in Jesus. He is the One who will make us hopeful in His salvation!

" There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God." My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, May 24.

Letter to the WM Director...

Dear Mrs. Stenbakken:

Since you are the Director of Women's Ministries for the General Conference , I thought I would write to you about a letter I received from the ladies of the G.C. while we were missionaries in Colombia, South America.

We had just been told by our youngest son's physician that if we didn't take our son out of Colombia, in six weeks he would be dead. Also my husband, John, had just returned from a horrible trip in which one of our church members had been killed....

The devil wasn't through our little dog was discovered to have rabies and we had to take 21 shots around the navel. We were in the car leaving to take our 3rd shot when the mailman came....I saw the letter addressed to me. It was from the ladies at the G.C. They said they had been impressed to write the missionary wives and that they were praying for us....

Receiving the letter that the ladies were praying for us not only released the tears I had been doing my best to hang on to, but made me realize again what a kind, loving, gracious and all knowing God we have. He impressed the ladies to write before I needed the encouragement....

Ordinarily I am a very private person, but God...has awakened me and said "write her." There must be some minister's wife out there that needs to know you ladies are praying for her as you did for us.

With Christian love,

Billie L. Griswell

To be an encourager is easy, but we often do not take the opportunity. Why not write a letter or postcard right now; make a phone call; stop in a neighbor's office or home to spread a word of cheer. God may be waiting to use you -- or me. 

Ardis Stenbakken

Eastern Africa Division: During the International Women's Day of Prayer in the Dididi Church in Malawi, six individuals gave their hearts to the Lord and all are now baptized. The women had charge of the full program, including the sermon given by Dorothy Mwase-Vuma.

Euro-Asia Division: Every week the WM Committee in Uman, in the Ukrainian Union, meet to learn how to preach better. That skill and their personal visitation program have resulted in 20 people being baptized. In many other churches in that Union the women are conducting a wide variety of programs and personal witnessing, with 36 individuals already baptized.

The 35 children in the Tomilino orphanage in the West-Russian Union, Central Conference, were hungry and didn't have enough clothes. The director was sick from stress. Then Women's Ministries stepped in. They were able to find food from a collective farm, they bought and made clothes and shoes, and a pharmacy supplied medicine at half price. The leader says, "The crisis was overcome by God's hand."

North American Division: The women of the Northeastern Conference Buffalo-Niagara Falls Region conducted an entire week of prayer, culminating in the International Women's Day of Prayer. Every evening different leaders led in special prayer and "Women in the Word" programs. The week ended with a Prayer Luncheon and training seminars conducted by departmental directors from the Conference.

It began coincidentally; a group of women met at a potluck in 1998 and formed a group which became the Single Sisters in Service (SSIS), single women 60 years and older living in the Keene, Texas, area. They meet once a month for food, fellowship and ministry which ranges from serving as sitters for an Alzheimer's patient to helping students at Southwestern Adventist University, to card and prayer ministry. Among other ministries, they help the women's shelter, provide food baskets for the needy, breakfast for the Senior Center and participate in walkathons, and do visitation.

South Pacific Division: In spite of the current political unrest in Fiji, Women's Ministries continues to grow. They have developed prayer groups, conducted Bible studies and cooking classes, taught flower arranging and raised funds for church schools. They have also started some creative activities in rural areas and improved prison visitation programs to women inmates.

About 400 women recently conducted a retreat on the outer island of Lakeba, Fiji, lasting 7 days. During that time they visited villages, conducted community services for the elderly, sick, orphans, widows and needy.

The Greater Sydney Conference women, during their retreat in May, sent a recommendation to the Conference, Union and Division calling for opening up leadership positions within the church to qualified women and suggested ways it could be done.