update and amazing story:

Thanks so much for allowing us to be part of the below story(picture attached-story from our missionary nurse- Jessie(she is amazing by the way)).

 

We are back in the USA for a short season(as I type this, Hurricane sandy is dumping a lot of rain on us in Pennsylvania).  We are attending a missionary “Critical Care” 2 week course here-believing it will help us process the things that have occurred this year, help us with anger and resentment focused towards the surgeon, and further equip us to be more effective in ministry with staff and new missionaries that come to the field under our direction.  God is GOOD and He Does GOOD!

 

For the privacy and protection of this child we have changed her name to Lulu.

 

Lulu is a 15-year old girl who has faced a lifetime of sorrow in her young life. Lulu’s mom died when she was only 3 years old from AIDS leaving her with the same life threatening virus that is taking over the small country of Swaziland.

 

Surrounded by family, Lulu was lovingly cared for by her father and step mom. At times she would also stay with her mother’s side of the family. Lulu could feel a divide between the two sides of the families and it began to take its toll on her. When she was cared for by her stepmom she had access to a Children’s Cup carepoint that provided a daily meal, Bible club, and transport every month to get her HIV medications. She grew strong and found support at home to take her medicine properly. When she went to stay with her mother’s side of the family, they said that her and her mom where bewitched.

 

No disease, no virus…

but that her mother died from being bewitched

and no amount of medical care would save her from death.

She too was bewitched like her mom.

 

Lulu lost hope, and stopped taking her life sustaining medication.

 

She became very sick and lost lots of weight.

She was so thin and weak she had to be admitted to the hospital to be given special medicine and food to try to save her life. Three American pastors on a Children’s Cup trip accompanied the medical team to visit her in the hospital one cold Saturday afternoon.

 

Lulu, a skeleton with skin on, sat alone on the side of the bed with a spoonful of rice in her hands. Face gaunt and sunken in, you could see every bone in her body. When she saw us enter her ward, she began to wail.

 

With tears streaming down her sunken cheeks, a cry rose from deep within her soul,

“Jesu…Jesu….Jesu….Jesu….Jesu!”

For our fifteen minute visit this is all she would say, Jesus. She called out to Jesus.

 

Distraught, we sat at her side, rubbing her back, wiping her tears, and trying to comfort her.

A lady in the bed next to her said only one other person had visited that day.

 

Unable to comfort her, we turned to the Great Comforter.

We prayed over her for God’s peace, presence, and healing to be known to her.

We left with our hearts heavy and burdened with what we had just seen.

 

I can say, with all honesty, that those of us there were wrecked and laid awake at night praying for this girl who called out to Jesus. Unsure if she was going to make the weekend, we returned a few days later to the hospital ward.

 

Laying in bed was Lulu with fuller cheeks, clear eyes, and a smile on her lips.

Carrying a full conversation in English, her second language, she expressed how good it was to see us again. Sitting on the side of the bed with more strength, she remembered our visit on that life-altering Saturday.

 

Hope was reignited in her eyes.

 

In the following days we watched the Lord burden and direct people in the care of Lulu.

With her family, doctors from the hospital, Children’s Cup medical team, and teachers at the care point, Lulu’s future is filled with love, support, and hope.

We continue to walk forward watching God orchestrate her care.

In her hopelessness Lulu heart’s cry was Jesus.

Jesus answered her cry and made His Presence known.

 

“From the bottom of the pit,

O LORD,

I cried out to You,

And when I begged You to listen to my cry,

You heard.

You answered me and told me not to be afraid.

“You came to my rescue, Lord, and saved my life.”

Lamentations 3:55-58 GNT

 

 

God Bless you, we hope to see you soon!