If you look at the blogs of any of my teammates you will read that we have had quite the week at the local hospital in Puerto Cabezas. I hate to add another to the mix, but feel that the things we are wrestling with here are similar to some of the conversations and emails I have had back home lately and want to share my thoughts.
Last week we started visiting the hospital each afternoon. From prior hospital visitation I thought I was pretty well prepared. Ha! If I only had known what my poor heart was walking into.
There are things that are just “normal” in 3rd World hospitals. Granted they are not normal in America, but have become rather normal to me. I apologize for not painting the complete picture for you, but imagine jam-packed rooms, stray dogs wandering about, zero care from the nurses and absolute filth. Honestly, those things don’t even phase me anymore, which is kind of sad, but really this blog is about the people and the conditions are only secondary to their wonderful hearts.
Jessie and I have been spending time in the Women’s ward and today most of our friends were either in surgery, leaving the hospital, or sleeping so we ventured down to see the kids with Courtney. She had been having a rough week down there so we thought we would pop in to encourage her friends. She told us about a boy who was 4 years old, but had the physical looks of about a 2 year old. He was clearly very ill, but we were unable to discern exactly what was going on.
As we stood around the door to ICU it suddenly opened and a woman stumbled out sobbing. I happened to be there and caught her in an embrace and quietly prayed over her. She did not speak much Spanish, as her native language is Miskito. From what we could figure out she was the mom of the very sick little boy and he was declining rapidly. We were told she had signed papers to take him home, presumably to let him die peacefully. From what we could tell she did not have any other family there with her and she was extremely upset. She disappeared back into the ICU and a few minutes later came out carrying the boy wrapped in many blankets. She was so overcome with emotion as she left the ICU that she started to go down on the floor and Courtney was standing there and put her arms out to catch the sick boy. 
She carried the lifeless little body down the hall to a room with a bed so he could be changed and bathed before going home. While all of this is going on there was a lot of confusion, many people, and unfortunately no one was speaking any English. As Courtney laid the child down a local Pastor arrived on the scene and proceeded to read the 23rd Psalm over his little body. At this point it was just too much for all of us to handle. Courtney was overcome by emotion and we were all having a hard time processing the things we were seeing.
I entered the room to support Courtney and witnessed the purest form of compassion and heart-felt crying out for God I have ever seen. There were probably 10 people in the room, all speaking different languages and crying out to the King of Kings. We petioned Him on behalf of the small boy, but we also claimed the promises of God. We reminded ourselves that HE alone is Holy, Good, and Sovereign. He is in control and even though we can’t fathom it, He loves that little child more than we ever possibly could.
At some point during the prayer session I looked around me in AWE of all God was doing in that room. Racial barriers, class barriers, language barriers, all are stripped away in the presence of our God. It was just a group of people weeping for their God to come and heal one of His little children. This is the body of Christ. This is church.
Please pray for all our friends at the hospital. Pray and believe for their full healing in Jesus. Pray for us. Our hearts come away heavy and tired each afternoon, but we believe that the Lord is bestowing faith and refreshment in each one of us.
