Here's a little presentation I did for my home Church last Sunday. It's doesnt begin to hit on everything we did. But, I only had 3 min and this is what hit me the hardest...
This was my fourth trip to Liberia. I was blessed to be able to stay for 6 weeks this year.
Everyday I’d pray that God would direct me, guide me and teach me. That he would put me where He wanted me to be and use me. I have a chorus from a song stuck in my Bible, it says
I want to be your hands
I want to be your feet
I'll go where you send me
Sometimes, as I learned this year, where God wants and places you isn’t always as easy as we’d like it to be.
3 weeks into my stay we were still at the clinic in #2( The bush). We’d been holding clinic and things seemed to be running smoothly. The day that Ken, Jessica and Libby came in, our other group from Indiana was going home. I’d thought the week before that I wanted to go with Carolyn to the airport to pick them up, spend the night and get a nice shower with running water, because I knew it would be another 3 wks before I’d get to REALLY shower. A couple days before they came in I had a change of heart. People were coming to the clinic and I felt like I really needed to stay, and that the clinic needed to stay open. I talked to Carolyn about it and she felt like it was a good idea. So, Mary Helen and Mike stayed with me.
I was terrified when the truck with Carolyn and Dr. Hunt took off, and shocked that Carolyn trusted me to run things! I prayed that God would give me wisdom to treat whoever came in and show His love… "
Mary Helen took vitals, I saw the patients and nobody came in with anything too crazy.
Around 6 that evening I was told that there was an emergency, so Mary Helen and I rushed into the waiting room and found a little 4 year old girl named Ruth having a seizure. Her temperature was 105 and she’d been seizing for an hour and a half which is how long it took her parents to walk to the clinic. We put her in a tub of cold water and tried to get her temp down and to get her to stop seizing. She finally stopped seizing and I got malaria meds and pcm in her. Then we noticed her baby brother tied on his mothers back. He was having trouble breathing so I asked if I could look at him and try to help him too. Jeremiah was 1 year old and weighed 10 pounds. He was so tiny and fragile.
Ruth’s fever wouldn't stay down. Every hour almost on the hour it would spike back up to 104-105. We'd bath her again and I'd give her meds when I could. And sweet baby Jeremiah was getting weaker and weaker. I kept praying “God, please help these two babies!”. I tried everything I could think of to help Jeremiah out! And Little Ruth was SO sick! I just kept praying! 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “Pray without ceasing” and that’s what we did.
For 5 hours I switched from one baby to the next. Their parents told me that they had already lost 7 children. I was holding little Jeremiah, his mouth was cold and white and he was struggling with each breath. His Dad sat down looked at his baby boy with so much love and sadness and said, “I know he’s dying”. I almost started crying right there. I told him that I would keep trying and praying! I handed the baby to Mary Helen checked on Ruth and decided that I’d better clean up while Ruth’s fever was under control. While I was cleaning up I prayed that God would keep those two angels alive! That he would work a miracle. Right then Mary Helen rushed in with Jeremiah, he’d stopped breathing and I couldn’t find a pulse. I started cpr. He opened his eyes took two breaths and died in my arms! I wrapped him in my arms and lost it. I can’t put into words how I felt at that moment! I felt guilty for having him die in my arms instead of in his parents. I was worried his parents wouldn’t trust me to take care of Ruth since he’d just died and take her away. So, many things! I kept praying that God would just keep Ruth alive. I pulled it together for little Ruth. Her fever kept spiking and she was still weak. Around 2 AM some of the family from their village arrived and the father carried little Jeremiah home to be buried. I stayed up with Ruth, bathing her every hour and giving her meds. By the time morning came Ruth was doing a little better. She still had a fever, but was able to take in fluids and sit up with a little help. I’d done everything I could for her and got her stable enough to send her to the government hospital. When her Dad came back we sent them to Buchanan with our battery operated fans and lots of prayer. People started coming to be seen, so I got back to work and prayed that Carolyn would get back before another emergency like that came in because I was exhausted! I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see anyone as I was to see Carolyn that evening!
The next week we headed off to conference. I couldn’t get Jeremiah or Ruth off my mind. When we got back to #2 I was too scared to ask about Ruth, I didn’t want to know if she’d died, but I needed to find out either way. Finally JahnJah asked Pastor Don for me and I’m happy to tell you that she made it and is doing greatJ I also found out that their Dad had told the people in his village how thankful he was to have us there and to have had Jeremiah where he was when he died, that he knew we’d done everything we could and was glad someone cared enough about his son to keep trying. I know now why God laid it on my heart to stay at the clinic. There was a hurting Mom and dad who needed to see that someone cared about their children and loved them, and a little girl who would have died if I hadn't stayed.
I want to be your hands
I want to be your feet
I'll go where you send me
I’m going to keep singing this song! I’m going to keep praying that no matter how difficult it may be that God will direct me, guide me and teach me. That he would put me where He wants me to be and use me.
As horrid as the image of that little baby dead in my arms is; and as hard as I try to get him off my mind and fail, I know that God used us that night to show his love to hurting parents. I know that no matter how hard the circumstance may be; God can and will be glorified! That if we allow Him, He will use us to be His hands and feet.
I just want to thank all of you for your continued support and prayers. Thank you for helping me go where I feel God is sending me.
