c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ A lifetime of poverty has stirred _ not shaken _ the faith of poor black women who maintain high self-esteem and a striking optimism about the future, a new study finds.

The four-year study of the effects of income on aging began with researchers hypothesizing that poverty would be easier to accept at younger ages, when one could still dream of a better life. It ended by putting the spotlight on the extraordinary faith of a passing generation in black churches that sees the hand of God in the ability to overcome suffering.

Others have abandoned the women _ husbands have left, and children have been lost to drugs or violence _ but God is the one constant guiding them through a lifetime of hardship, the women told researchers from the Philadelphia Geriatric Center.

Into their 70s and 80s, the women have not given up hope that a better life is just around the corner, if not on Earth, then assuredly in heaven.

“The depth of the spirituality, the utter faith. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like it,” said Helen K. Black, project manager of the Behavioral Research Department of the geriatric center. “The absolute certainly was something beautiful to behold.”

Some theologians and church critics have debated whether Christianity has stood in the way of black social and economic advancement by encouraging the acceptance of suffering. But for this generation of black women, the backbone of many churches, God is a personal friend who provides the internal strength to overcome hard times.

Willa Morgan, 80, still works as a beautician in the back of her house. “Looks like I’m going to be working the rest of my life,” she said after a recent Wednesday night Bible study meeting at Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland.

If God had not been there to lean on, she said, she never would have made it through the years of working day and night and the death of her husband.

“He didn’t promise us he’ll take care of our wants. But he did say he’ll take care of our needs,” she said. “I don’t have everything in life a lot of people want. I haven’t been to a lot of places. But I’ve been to enough places to know God is good. That’s the truth.”

Two hundred older women _ 50 white and 50 black women living in poverty, and 50 from each group who were well-off economically _ were interviewed in their homes between 1993 and 1997 for the study, “Chronic Poverty and the Self in Later Life.”

Left without the hopes of youth, what would be the effects of a lifetime of poverty on older people, researchers wanted to know. Religion was not considered a major factor in the secular study. The subjects, women over 70 with monthly incomes of $766 or below, were recruited through senior citizen centers, housing project fliers, community outreach programs and legal assistance newsletters in Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Most women said religion was important in their lives, but it was a critical aspect of the lives of poor black women.

In lengthy interviews _ about four hours over two days with each woman _ a pattern began to emerge where eventually all 50 black women living in poverty would bring up issues concerning religion, faith and prayer before any study questions on the subject were even asked. When asked which person in life they were closest to, many simply replied, “God,” Black said.

In an upcoming article “Poverty and Prayer: Spiritual Narratives of Elderly African-American Women,” to be published in the summer issue of the Review of Religious Research, Black said the study found the women believed God was personally concerned about them and that their life, no matter how difficult, was “part of a divine plan that will bring rewards both in this life and the next.”

Their high self-esteem in difficult economic circumstances derived in large part from their pride in overcoming suffering, and their belief that God was beside them as a friend who would never let them down.

“They believed their hardship had meaning because they interpreted it as a measure of their strength, imbued it with divine purpose and foresaw a just end. They were convinced … that God experienced similar pain and would respond empathetically to their own,” Black wrote in the review article.

In an interview, Black said one woman she talked to said, “I am as sure of heaven as I am of that picture on the wall. And if I wasn’t, I would go charging into the Delaware River.”

Black said the women’s faith in God was more than a coping mechanism for a difficult life.

“It was an active, very living, viable partnership,” she said.

The Philadelphia research appears to be a rich, interview-based study that is consistent with other national studies showing religion is a potent resource for both blacks and older Americans, said Kenneth Pargament, a sociologist on religion at Bowling Green (Ohio) State University.

“Researchers should no longer be surprised” at such findings, he said.

At a Tuesday night prayer service at New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, the study results resonated with older women.

“He’s my main source in my life. He’s my everything. He meets all my needs,” said Bessie Britt, 58. “I’m divorced right now, so I depend on the Lord for everything.”

Beatrice Sneed, 71, lost a 5-year-old son to illness, and her husband, to whom she was married for 50 years, recently died.

“I can still smile today because the Lord is a friend to a widow,” she said. “In the midnight hour, in the noon hour, he truly has been my strength.”

DEA END BRIGGS