Just a glimpse

I love seeing things become clear in my life. This week I have, again, had reassurance. The last 3 years of my life have come full circle. I have worked as a hospice nurse for such a time as this...
I got a glimpse this week of what exactly I will be doing as a nurse when I go to Mozambique in May. We shadowed some home-based care visits this week. While I enjoyed the visits and got eager to be ready to be more actively involved in caring for patients I also felt challenged. The first patient we saw was a granny who was sitting on her mat outside eating her lunch. She had had a stroke and as a result has left-sided weakness. As the local nurse spoke with her and the family I sat there thinking what we could do for her. What would I do for a similar patient in the States? Unfortunately there isn’t much to do no matter where you may be. But here it seemed more unfair. She had no pain medicine for her aching shoulder, no option of physical therapy to try to regain any strength. I felt helpless. Then the local nurse looked to us and asked if I had any words of encouragement for her. After about 30 seconds of silence Laura says, “Sure. Ya, Dara do you want to do that?” (Thanks Laura!) My initial thought was this, “No, I have nothing to encourage her with. This seems hopeless and besides, who am I to encourage her? I am a white person who met her 3 mintues ago. I have the world at my finger tips and I have never walked a day in her shoes with a hungry stomach and a family to care for.” I had nothing to say. I was praying, I was begging God to give me words. I am sure I didn’t say anything profound but I did realize one thing. I need to know my God better. I need to be able to be encouraging in what my Western eyes see as a hopeless situation. I need to shed my Western standards and see the world through the eyes of an African and more importantly through God’s eyes. I need to be ready, strengthened and willing to do what may seem simple and insignificant to me- it could be huge in the Lord’s eyes. Jesus sat with widows, Jesus listened to children and Jesus was just present with the suffering. I often won’t be able to “do” enough, but I can love. I can let my light shine because I do know there is hope. I do have good news to share.
I pray that over the next 8 weeks as I prepare to go to Mozambique that I will grow and be better prepared for times like this. I need to be ready to answer hard questions, to pray bold prayers and to be Jesus to these people with such great needs. I need to expect the Lord to meet me here and do great things.
This is one story. There have been and will be many more. We also saw a young girl dying of hiv/aids- giving up on life and refusing to take antibiotics to treat her opportunistic infection. We saw orphans living alone with no food, granny’s with no clean water. In the midst of this God is showing me hope in His word…
The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, have never abandoned anyone how searches for you. For the needy will not be forgotten forever; the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed. Psalm 9:9, 18
I am doing great. In the midst of the heartache lives are being changed, God is present and working. I am learning a lot about the culture and growing along with the others who are all eager to do our part and make the most of this next year.
We do also have lot of fun. Cooking meals together and spending the evenings playing Uno and Taboo is my new social life. I am happy- right where I want to be!