Eduardo never had time to be involved in his church. This Christian man in Latin America let his work and other priorities take up all of his time. With his busy life, he never imagined how much his life would change in just one day: After a terrible traffic accident, Eduardo lost the use of his legs.
“I was so angry with God because I felt He had punished me and I didn’t want anything to do with the Church or Him,” Eduardo tells us. For two years Eduardo refused to turn to the Lord in his time of need.
“God began to touch my life in new ways and to heal my heart,” Eduardo shares. “I finally decided to attend church once again.”
For Eduardo and his family, it was not just a process of adapting to his new life but to also depend completely on the hand of God. Because of his condition, he did not have as much work and with five children, he was feeling the heavy weight of responsibility. Nevertheless, in his heart Eduardo knew his life had a purpose. But he wasn’t sure what that looked like.
When they attended the church, the leaders invited Eduardo to participate in the church planter training with a Bible League Canada joint ministry partner. He began attending the training. “It didn’t matter to them that I was a paraplegic and the difficulties that would cause to getting the work done,” says Eduardo.
Eduardo now lives in Carcelén Bajo, a community located north of Quito, Ecuador. The area has very few resources and a lot of drug dealing. He has used what he learned in the Bible League Canada partner’s training to begin a Bible study.
“Sometimes it is difficult to go visit people because it is not easy to move around,” says Eduardo. “The taxis sometimes don’t want to take me when they see me in a wheelchair, and taking the bus is even more complicated. But I always say it is difficult but not impossible to do the work God has called me to.”
Eduardo is excited for the opportunity to share his experience with others, especially a group of drug addicts who have begun to attend his Bible study. “I still continue to ask God to work in my life and that His Word will continue working in me,” he says. “When I graduated as a church planter, I asked God to do with me what He needs to and to use my life in accordance to His purpose.”
Eduardo continues to share the Word of God with passion and commitment. He knows God will put the people in his path who need to hear the Gospel.
“As God says, His work is not in vain and I believe Him because in these five years, we have seen how He has sustained us in every sense,” Eduardo reminisces.