Sherri met Fatima

[Sister Alvear]

This is a true story...and I have her permission to publish it..





She smiled as she handed me my Bible as I left for church. My mind wandered back some 6 years ago when she first arrived at my house.

Life had dealt her a terrible hand of cards…after all her first husband had left her when she was very young and she had a little girl to raise alone. It would not be long until another man would come into her life. However that marriage soon would become a horror story for she would find out he was deep into not only using but also buying and selling drugs. Not only that but he lived on the run from the law because of his involvements with illicit things. Her life was pure torment and filed with fear.
However by now she not only had a daughter but a son was born into that union.
Life became unbearable as the years passed. She wondered everyday if that day would be her last. Her today’s were dark and her tomorrows seemed to promise to be darker…her relationship was immersed in lies, strife, insults and disagreements.

Her daughter married Michael (our son) and slowly she heard about a real God that answers prayers and relieves sins heavy load. She knew her only hope in life was to flea and when opportunity presented itself she followed. She fled with her daughter (married to our son Michael) when they came to visit her. And that is how she landed at my house several thousand miles from her origins.

Oh the marks of sin…the scars of suffering that are always present in the devils domain.

Sin, suffering , and shame it all seems to run together…Oh what a cruel master the devil is.

You are not going to let her live at your house was the response I received when she arrived. How could I turn her away? She too was one of God’s little hurting lambs. She may not have looked like a lamb or even acted like one at first. In fact I suffered embarrassment from some of her attitudes but I knew she would soon be molded into the image of Christ if I would patiently wait for his working in her life.

She came to my house a chain smoker and a nervous wreck. I wish I could tell you that one prayer changed everything but it was not visibly that way…Her hurts and distrust ran deep and like a wounded animal she backed away, scared she might be hurt again. Time after time she tried to free herself from evil vices but it took time, much time….however the day came and she asked to be baptized and vices soon lost their holt to a power much stronger than the power of this world.


Oh! The amazing wonder of the forgiveness of God! The genuine relief from the inner torments of a heart the joy of being set really a free.

The restoring grace of God to fallen souls is beyond the finite mind….a sinner washed white as snow.

Today her life is different, she is a Christian by choice. Happy beyond words….Her son that was just a small child today plays the guitar in our church, studies in a good school and is leaning to be a computer technician… What a difference God can make in a life.