Normally when I am asked to visit an elderly or sick person, the first question that comes to my mind is how I can encourage the person we plan to visit, being only 27 years old myself. What do I know about life? The elderly have probably gone through many hard times, and there I come telling them that God is love and that He will take care of their needs, that He listens to their prayers. Of course I believe all this, but it feels kind of weird and hypocritical to share this message with the elderly in the face of their hard lives and stories. My prayer before I visit a person is that God would show me how I can show them His love in a more practical way - not just by words but also by deeds.

We asked the elderly woman how she was doing and she started to cry.

One of the elderly ladies we visited was paralysed and couldn’t get out of bed anymore. Her children had left her alone, as they now worked abroad. Sometimes the neighbour would bring the elderly woman a bucket of clean water from the well, or do some shopping for her, but often two or three days would pass without any visitors. We asked the elderly woman how she was doing and she started to cry. She explained her situation to us, and told us about what had happened in her life. She asked us whether we knew of anyone who needed a place to live because she was willing to give up her house, if someone would help her with the little things that needed to be done in and around the house.

After praying for the lady, we got ready to go but she asked, "Before you go, could you please cook some food for me? For the past two days I have only eaten some biscuits and I am really hungry." When I heard the elderly woman's question, I praised God for giving me something practical to do! So we cooked a meal for her and when she saw the food, she started to cry again. This time her tears were of happiness and thankfulness.

Although the situation of this elderly woman was really hard to see, for me this visit was a real encouragement because this time we were not 'just visiting' to drop off a food parcel, but we had been able to help this woman a little bit more and thereby show God's love in a more practical way. Praise God!