How does God view women...Part 2

I have been thinking a lot about a woman I saw on Saturday at Soulard's Farmers Market.  We went there to buy some fruit and veggies for our week.  One our way in we walked past a woman at the entrance of the market who was in a wheelchair. She was a beggar.  As we approached her I saw that one whole side of her face was deformed.  She didn't even have an eye or even an eye socket.  It was all skinned over.  I'm assuming it was from a burn, but I could be wrong.  She also had one foot wrapped up and it also looked deformed.  Her other side of her face looked normal.  I was taken aback by her appearance because of her deformities being so striking and grotesque. She was holding out a cup for people to give money to her.  As she silently sat there I thought to myself "I'll give her some money on our way out of the market."  So we walked by and didn't give her another thought. 

On our way out of the market, I opened my wallet and picked out some of the left over quarters that I did not use at the market and dropped it in her cup.  I did not speak to her, but was intimated by her appearance and was unsure if she was even English speaking.  We got in our car and started to drive away. As we drove past her I noticed something that cut me so deep that I have not been able to stop thinking about it.  A man approached her who also looked poor and possibly even homeless. They began to engage in a friendly conversation that appeared as if they knew each other to some degree.  After a few moments, the deformed woman reached into her cup and grabbed a handful of money and gave it to him.  She did not count how much she gave him. She did not just give him coins, but handing him whatever her hand grabbed which included dollars, as well as coins. 

My first thoughts as I watched this was that the man was stealing her money.  Then I thought, well maybe it was her husband or someone who shared in her income.  After thinking more about their exchange and their body language, it became more clear that this was probably her giving him a gift.  There have been many things that I have thought about since this encounter.

1. I failed to see her as being made in the image of God (see previous post).  Although her physical features, that are made in God's image, were deformed, her spiritual image has not been.  I did not speak to her or engage with her as a fellow sister and one of God's children.
2. She gave freely out of nothing, while I held back in my wealth.  
3. In my class this week on Women of the Bible we have read about Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2:6-8

The LORD kills and makes alive;

He brings down to the grave and brings up.

The LORD makes poor and makes rich;

He brings low and lifts up.

He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the beggar from the ash heap,

To set them among princes

And make them inherit the throne of glory.

4. Mary’s Song Luke 1:52-55

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

And exalted the lowly,

He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich He has sent away empty.

He has helped His servant Israel,

In remembrance of His mercy,

As He spoke to our fathers,

To Abraham and to his seed forever.

5. I am convicted of my selfishness and her generosity. I pray that God will give me a heart of giving that is like Christ and this woman.
6. It makes me think about my fears and prejudices to the poor and to the foreign.  Both poor and foreign are all made in God’s image.
7. It also makes me think about my previous counseling class where I learned about delighting in and dreaming of dignity with a fellow sinner.  We all have glimpses of glory, dignity, and beauty because of our image in God, whether Christian or not.  I wonder what this woman feels from day to day as people look at her. I’m sure she weeps at the fact that people don’t really see “her” for who she is.  I pray that she knows that God sees her for who she is. 

I can not fully express my range of emotions as I continue to think about this.  I am completely over come by brokenness for my own heart and for this woman's physical sufferings.  I also thank God for humbling me.  I have been reminded of this as I think and pray for her...

Blessed are you poor, 

For yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, 

For you shall be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now, 

For you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

and when they exclude you,

and revile you, and cast out your name as evil,

for the Son of Man's sake.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!

For indeed your reward is great in heaven,

for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

  (Luke 6:20-23)