One day when we were ministering in our village we decided to see which houses we felt led to visit. I noticed a house with a red door frame and as it stood out to me, I headed there with two of my team mates and our translator.
I was expecting to find a similar set up to many of the other houses we had visited, a woman or group of women and perhaps some small children. Instead we were met by an older woman who was clearly troubled and suffering from something like dementia. She told us her name was Julia, and we tried to talk to her and share why we were visiting. However we struggled to communicate since our translator told us that much of what she was saying made no sense. I left feeling rather frustrated, God why did you send me to that house?
The next day when we were in the village when we came across Julia again. This time she showed us a wound on her leg which she had clearly had for some time. In doing what she thought would treat it, she had applied dirt and toothpaste to it. This of course had done little to help the healing process and had caused a lot of mess around it. It was not the easiest to look at and some of the team felt somewhat squeamish. Fortunately we were able to call upon our ministry host Keila, to come and help clean and dress the wound since it was in such need of attention. She promised to return in a few days to carry on treating it. At this point I began to think, God did you send us to that house because of this? Yesterday’s visit was so frustrating, but now it seems clearer why we had crossed paths with her.
The following week Keila asked us to visit her again and prepared us all we needed to clean and dress the wound again. At this point I felt a nudge from God, you can do this yourself, don’t pass it off to another one of your team mates. Previously I had not thought I could face it because of the state of the wound, but I knew I was capable if I put my mind to it. As we approached her I felt a little nervous, but prayed God would give me the strength to do it, and of course he did. I didn’t feel at all squeamish and was able to calmly clean and dress the wound.
So why am I sharing Julia’s story? Well first because it’s a reminder that we can do all things through Christ, that he does give us the strength to do things we don’t think we can. I’m no nurse, but if that’s what God needs me to be in the moment, I can do it. And secondly, because it reminds us that God is always at work even when we can’t see or understand it. I didn’t know why God had taken us to Julia, but he had a purpose. God is always at work, when we are present and when we are not. I don’t know what will happen to Julia and her leg after we leave, but I can trust that God has it all in hand.
