Why, as a pensioner, I work for Himmelsperlen International?
Friends often ask me why, after such a long professional life, I don´t allow myself more free time.
The questions is certainly justified. At 68 years old, I could enjoy my balcony and the sun more, go Nordic walking with my sticks, spend more time with friends, read a lot more, etc. The reason I don´t is simple: these things do not give me purpose in life.
After my official retirement in 2016 I took time out in England. There, I had plenty of time to review my life to date and think about my dreams for the future.
Then, I was 65 years old and in good health. I still wanted to travel, get to know new people and experience their cultures. During a retreat on “Holy Island” in northeast England, I took a long and lonely coastal walks and asked Jesus, „Lord, what is your new calling for me?“
I was feeling pregnant somehow, something new was already moving in my heart. I couldn’t see it yet. It had no shape but it was growing noticeably.
Over the next week, several small events took place in such quick succession that they made me listen very intently to what was going on inside me.
It culminated in an elderly, white-haired, English gentleman called Roger, coming to me and reporting that God had spoken to him that night – the message surprised Roger as much as it did me. God had told him to bring a tithe of what he had, to me. Roger took a check out of his jacket pocket and put it in front of me saying, „This is for your children in Pakistan!“ The number 4,747.37 was written on the cheque. It was in British pounds and converted into 5,300 euros. I was totally amazed because I had no children in Pakistan. I had never even been there.
A pensioner called to Pakistan
I had felt connected to Pakistan for years having followed and prayed for Asia Bibi.
This Christian woman had been sentenced to death, kept in a Pakistani prison and cruelly treated for nine years. Shortly before my time in England, I came into e-mail contact with another woman from Pakistan. She wrote to me about the fate of many orphans whose parents had been killed in a recent earthquake. I felt a strong desire to help them. For the first time in my life, I had a plenty of time and leisure so I used it to make a portfolio and a small presentation about these children. While in England I took part in a wood workshop. Every Tuesdays, a group of about 10 men met to pursue this hobby. I enjoyed the woodwork and time with them and during one of the tea breaks, took the opportunity to show my presentation.
Why did I do this?
Because these children touched my heart. God persuaded me not to keep this knowledge to myself, but to share it. That’s all it was. Nothing big, nothing spectacular had happened. I just followed the inner voice of God in me and shared what moved my heart. I could not simply transfer the entrusted money to strangers in a foreign country. It was God’s money and I was responsible for it. And so, shortly afterwards, I flew to Lahore in northeast Pakistan. In this way God led me into my new calling. Not long afterwards the school was founded and a year later the Himmelsperlen International e.V.
Margret Meier / April 28, 2020