by Grace Alcaraz

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 6:25-26

I find myself turning to this verse so often in my 10-plus years of being a Christian because I worry so much about money.  Growing up, my parents were not rich or financially stable, so I always worried about how we would pay our household bills, my school activities, medical costs, and college applications. In college, I worried about getting my financial aid check on time to pay for tuition, rent, food, and books. When I started working my first job out of college, I started worrying about saving money for my wedding while living paycheck-to-paycheck, barely making ends meet.

God was faithful in all those stages of transition in my life. I had a roof over my head in high school with running water and electricity. I remained healthy without any major illnesses. I applied to, got into, and successfully graduated college with relative ease. I also got married last year to Roger in a beautiful wedding ceremony, a 300-person guestlist, and a free flight to honeymoon in Denmark, thanks to my work. So with all that God has abundantly provided, what else is there to be anxious about?

In my sinfulness– plenty. I am anxious about advancing my career, the rising costs of rent, paying bills, debt, the future of the Alcaraz family, retirement, the list goes on. Through my conversations with the members of the church in Argentina this July, I realized that these are concerns of people everywhere. We all at some time struggle with the feeling of not having enough, but how do the members of Iglesia Biblica Misionera in Tucuman deal with it?

During the weekend retreat we spent with IBM, the schedule was very open. We had a morning sermon followed by 6 hours of free time to spend however we wanted. I wanted to know the church members better, so I spent my time talking with people. I found out one of the members, we’ll call her C, was not native Argentine, and had actually immigrated from a neighboring country about 10 years ago. I asked C a simple question, “How did you come to Argentina?” and it spiraled into a 3-hour long conversation. She told me about her family back in her hometown, how she’d been working as a nanny since age 12, and that she moved to Tucuman to take care of a family she worked with from her native country. After her move, she met her husband, J, on the job because he was a chauffeur for the family she was working for.

They eventually got married and when they were expecting their daughter, C’s trust in God’s word was put to the test. It was her husband’s conviction through Scripture that when their daughter was born, C would stop working to be a stay-at-home mom. This was a struggle for C, as she had been making her own financial decisions since she was only 12 years old. Suddenly, she felt that she needed to give up her independence and self-sufficiency. She was embarrassed to have to ask her husband for grocery money, something she never had to do before.  Her husband only made $600 a month, a low wage even by Argentina’s standards. How were they going to raise a family of 3 with $600 a month? Furthermore, she kept reasoning that with a baby on the way, she needed to make as much money as possible to be able to purchase the newest and best baby gear.

C’s job situation didn’t change, but her perspective did. Right before C and J’s daughter was born, J’s work had received a large shipment of brand-new, high-quality baby gear donated from Spain. There were durable toys, comfortable clothes, and an expensive stroller included in the shipment that C & J would never be able to afford. J was able to bring that shipment from Spain home for his baby. He didn’t have to pay anything for it or ask for it. It was all just given to them. When their daughter was born, C would run errands using the stroller, and she would get stopped in the streets by interested moms asking, “Where did you get that stroller? How much did it cost?” They were so impressed because the quality and craftsmanship was something that wasn’t found in Argentina. Her only response was that it was a gift, a very unexpected gift. The very things C was trying to work so hard for was handed to her by God’s generous provision. That’s when she first learned to trust God and His Word in her family life.

C and J’s  daughter is six years old now. Ever since C’s career shifted from taking care of other people’s homes to her own home, C told me that they have never felt that they were in want on J’s $600-a-month salary. All their needs have been met, they always have enough to eat, and they are thriving as a family desiring to please the Lord. Their daughter is an affectionate child learning from C’s example as a godly wife and mother. Currently, C is teaching her daughter about humility, specifically to not be boastful and proud when she gets better grades than her classmates.

Through my time with C, I saw so much of myself in her story. I saw how I failed to believe in God’s promises and trust in His provision. Whether its family life, my career, housing, or whatever else under the sun there is to worry about, I needed to be reminded that He has blessed me richly. He has provided me with so much already, and there is no reason to doubt that God will continue to be faithful.

Editor’s note: This is the last of a series of articles being provided by the 2013 Argentina short-term missions team announced here.