25 years of employment is something to be celebrated. Companies often give employees a pat on the back, or recognize them for their service with a certificate, a pin, maybe even a gold watch.
For Patricia Smith, the 25 years of employment have gone by quickly and have indeed been a success. But perhaps not in the traditional sense of the term.
Patricia rates her success on the number of children she’s helped, not on the number in her bank account. Her success is found in the smiles on the faces of those she helps, not the pats on the back by important people. Patricia and her daughter Melinda run the Haiti Children’s Home, an orphanage for about 45 kids right now. And for her 25 year celebration, what will Pat do? Probably change some diapers, do some cleaning, feed some hungry mouths and work to keep this faith-based ministry running, she says with a laugh.
Wearing an ankle length denim dress, her white hair pulled back in a bun, Patricia sits in a rocking chair to chat with us. You could take her out of her room in Haiti and drop her in a southern U.S. small town front porch and she’d fit right in. But while she is an American, Patricia spends her days and years in Haiti, helping some of the poorest of the poor.
Children in Haiti don’t have a lot of options. Patricia and Melinda provide a safe home with loving caretakers, a strong Christian focus, three square meals a day and even birthday cake for each birthday boy and girl.
They never know where the next amount of funding will come from. But, as Melinda says, the Lord has always provided when they have been in need.
In the past, I haven’t been willing to sponsor even one child because I have been afraid of running out of money when times have been tight for Justin and me. Yet these two women take care of 45, plus help countless others in the community with medical issues, on little more than faith and a prayer. It makes me wonder what God could have accomplished through me over our last eight years of marriage if I had stepped out in faith a little more instead of counting my pennies and hoarding them.
While Patricia might not get a gold watch or even an ‘Atta-boy’ for her 25 years of service, I am sure that God has a special seat for her in heaven. And that’s better than any earthly recognition.
I love the connection on what’s she’s doing in Africa and what we can be doing here at home — keeping up child sponserships even in hard economic times — and you’re right, Lorene, it will all work out if the priorities are right
He’s in charge of the big picture.
Thanks you two for doing this, for spending yourself on behalf of those in need. I am amazed at how so many missionaries always have stories about how they have never been in need financially. It’s almost like God is telling us that it’s not about the money. Thanks for this story, it touched my heart very deeply. I am praying for God’s blessings on you as you continue on.