A Family of Faith
By Claudia Ingles
How would you feel if you lived alone and had no family? Loneliness is hard, sad and depressing. Now, how would you feel if you were alone and also suffered from a very difficult disease like cancer? That is the situation that our brother Ricardo Chávez was experiencing before arriving at Impact. We met him last year when he came to receive food at our Resource Center. He had no family, and so was battling his cancer alone.
He heard the gospel and was baptized in April of last year, and at Impact he has found his family. He comes to every church meeting, and since he is bilingual he attends the English-language Sunday morning worship and the Spanish-language worship at Lindale in the evenings. He has been a volunteer in our food distribution for a long time, and has a very noble heart. Many small things about Ricardo are outstanding as well, such as his kindness in opening the door for others.
Ricardo’s cancer had been cured at one point, but sadly the cancer has returned in other parts of his body. Ricardo’s continued faith in God’s ability to heal his cancer is also a great example of faith for us. If you see him at Impact do not hesitate to say hello, because on many occasions He has told me how Impact is his family and how happy he is to share life with everyone.
I admire Ricardo’s ability to connect with others; he is a very important member of Impact and clearly represents many others who also come to the Church seeking peace, comfort and love. Although he continues to suffer from his illness, he no longer has to suffer alone, but is accompanied by his family of faith.
I thank God for Ricardo, because we see the transformation a person can have in Christ and how fortunate we all are to have a family of faith. And we also glorify God for the life of our brother, who shows such great faith in the midst of trials.
