It was early Friday morning when Heber called saying, “I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU!!” Oh my, I could feel my heart flutter with joy as a magnifying suspense took hold. Something extraordinarily good had happened. My instinct was to hop on FaceTime immediately to get the news, but it just wasn’t an option. Seconds later, pictures came flooding into my phone, one after the other. First was Heber standing alongside the gentlemen who created his marvelous prosthesis. Next came a picture of himself donning his beee-yooooo-teee-fulllll new eye. You could fill an ocean with the number of happy tears streaming down my face!
Two years prior, after much personal prayer and intercession from friends and family on my behalf, I stepped out in faith and became a first-time homeowner. Just after closing, painters were hired to give the condo a much-needed makeover. In the meantime, a good friend was kind enough to let me stay at her place during the renovations, but keeping track of the progress meant adding another 40 miles of busy inner-city traffic to my already lengthy days. This wasn’t so bad until I happened upon a substantial amount of water where it had no business being. Some investigatory work led me to find out that the previous owner had deceptively sold their condo to me without disclosing a persistent leak coming from the adjacent unit. Talk about frustrating!
As time went on and many more untimely floods occurred, it eventually escalated into a distinguishable wastewater invasion. Not only were the smells revolting, but my frustration level kept growing by the day. It called for complete mold remediation followed by several months’ worth of remodeling. This was a particularly tall order during this time considering that Texas was hit with a historic freeze that compromised plumbing all over the city, making it nearly impossible to locate an available contractor. Eventually, however, in came a team of diligent professionals to help this damsel in distress.
There was one in particular who grabbed my attention. His gloomy demeanor was easily detectable and my heart couldn’t help but reach out to him. As a Spanish speaker, we could communicate freely and he began to open up about his plight.
One afternoon during his childhood, Heber and his brother were outside playing when push came to shove over a toy, launching it to the ground. As he bent down to retrieve it, an unspeakable accident occurred. Another one of their brothers, who happened to be cutting weeds nearby with a machete, was dangerously close. Somehow in the course of the scuffle, the machete blade caught Heber in the eye. He was rushed to the hospital in hopes of saving it, but their efforts were futile. Several surgeries later, his reality remained the same. Heber would have to adjust to a life with only one working eye.
In the years to follow Heber got married, became a father and relocated with his wife and kids from Honduras to the United States. He began to take notice of his wife turning cold romantically and couldn’t help but attribute their increasing distance to his eye. Since it would tear up excessively and had no movement, this left him feeling even more self-conscious, even “ugly and unloved”. However, this didn’t stop Heber from loving his wife, nor would he ever think to put his needs ahead of his family’s. He held out hope that a new, more life-like prosthesis would resurrect his marriage, but knew that the cost made that dream unrealistic.
There was no way for me to let this go. My mind was all over the place, wondering how I could pray for him and what I could personally do to help. As the past president of the Houston Downtown Lions Club, I made several phone calls to other clubs and one led to another. Finally, I spoke to Steve, a VP at Memorial Hermann Hospital and president of another Lions Club, mentioning Heber’s situation. Steve happily reported, “Alicia, you’re in luck! We just held a huge fundraiser and have yet to allocate the money, so we can help this young man.” God definitely had a hand in this situation and He was going to make this work out perfectly. I called Heber and connected him with a translator at the clinic. Months passed in silence where I had the thought of calling him, but I didn’t want to interrupt him at work so I left it alone in hopes that someday I would hear the outcome. That call finally came November 11th, 2021.
The good news had me crying endless tears of joy! Tears of joy for the awesome God we serve! In reminding Heber how God orchestrated everything for this very moment, I told him that the Lord had a plan for his life. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God had brought him to the US, made our paths cross, and helped him get a marvelous prosthesis. God took what I thought was the worst experience in my flooded condo and turned it into good for His glory!
