The Most Beautiful Woman
I had met her before. In fact, I’d been to her house to visit. She, along with her husband at the time, had been parishioners in my first congregation in Langley, BC. They were a well-known couple in our churches, being one of the first families to serve on the mission field in Brazil back in the 1970s. My grandfather knew them well since he served on the Mission Aid Board at the time. He even travelled down to Brazil to visit with them. The first Canadian Reformed book on mission resulted from that trip, The Gospel Under the Southern Cross.
I recently received a call to serve the Grace Canadian Reformed Church in Winnipeg. I think it’s important to take such a call seriously and so I visited there for a few days. Someone there suggested that I should go and visit the most elderly member of the congregation, Ardis Kuik. I thought that was a great idea! It would be so nice to see her again. So I did.
She’s now 97 years old and lives in an old age home. Her husband passed away several years ago. She is still one of the kindest, most beautiful women I know.
During our visit, she reminisced about their time in Brazil and how my Opa Bredenhof supported their work there. In his book, he told of how a severely malnourished Brazilian baby was refused admittance to the local hospital. John and Ardis Kuik took this critically ill baby and cared for her 24 hours a day, feeding her a teaspoon of nourishing liquid every fifteen minutes. My Opa wrote, “We can only admire the Kuiks for their selfless attitude.” By the time the visitation team left Brazil to return to Canada, the baby’s prospects were much brighter. That was just one example of how they showed Christ’s love to the people of Brazil during their years there, not only with babies, but adults too.
In the old age home, she continues to care for others. She told me of how she always plays Christian music in her room because she wants to evangelize. She said that some of the staff know the Lord, but many of them don’t. So she said she plays her Christian hymns and psalms and hopes they’ll hear about it and ask about it. She said that she has had opportunities to share the gospel with the people who take care of her. She prays for them, that they would hear the gospel and believe. That was beautiful to hear. Even though she is physically frail and not always mentally where she once was, at 97 years old she still has our Saviour’s heart for the lost. Through the power of the Holy Spirit in her, she profoundly reflects Jesus.
Ardis Kuik is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known. Scripture tells us that “charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” (Prov. 31:30). When one’s youthful physical beauty is long past, the beauty of a heart that loves and fears God is enduring.
