I was startled awake by someone squeezing my hand asking me to try and drink some water. My body shivered under my sleeping bag and several sheets laying over me. My head began to spin as I attempted to open my eyes, I felt the dry heave coming and tried as hard as I could to swallow it down. As my teammate Sierra pulled me up to a sitting position I opened my eyes and found myself laying on the tile bathroom floor. My nostrils were filled with the pungent smell of throw up and several unpleasant odors.
Our squads amazing nurses (Sarah, Candice, and Maggie) were in the small bathroom trying to figure out what to do with my teammate, Angela, and I. We had both been throwing up for a couple days now and had not successfully kept any food or water down as of yet. I couldn't talk because my throat was completely dry so I let out a moan as the water Sierra had just helped me sip came right back up into a small tub she was holding.
I tried to think back on the last few days but all I could remember was Tuesday night, We had just completed a long yet successful day with the Albanian children and I was finishing up my meal of mystery meat, a piece of bread, goat cheese, and fresh mixed vegetables. In the last few weeks I had been so hungry at each meal time that it didn't much matter what was on my plate, I ate every bit of it. But that night was different. I felt an uneasy feeling in my gut.
I told myself, "Marie, you best pull yourself together. Your team needs you and these kids need you. Get over it and move on." After my pep talk with myself I went to my room to grab my guitar for worship. All the sudden my head started spinning and I took off to the bathroom as fast as I could. I made it just in time to throw up my whole dinner in the beautiful squatty potty. Yum! (If you think throwing up in a toilet is miserable and gross…try throwing up in a small hole in the ground…it's quite the experience)
I felt better immediately so I splashed cold water on my face and went upstairs to lead worship for my squad. I didn't think twice about it…I figured it was just something I ate…NOPE!
I literally slept and threw up for the next two days. I was miserable for two reasons: first for obvious reasons i was struggling physically duh! Second, because I felt like I was letting my team and my squad down. Angela and I woke up Thursday morning and the nurses gave us some yummy Albanian Popsicles to see if we could hold it down…if not they had no choice but to take us to the hospital because we were pretty dehydrated and needed fluids.
As I sucked slowly on the Popsicle and tried to ignore the feelings of nausea creeping up on me I played the Thankful Game (a little game we like to play on The Race when situations could call for negative thinking). I was thankful that I knew my sickness wasn't Malaria. I was thankful for the care, concern, and prayer from my amazing squadmates. I was thankful God had provided for me to do ministry in Albania! As I continued to play the game in my head I could feel myself beginning to salivate and the nausea came like a tidal wave…BAM! Whoop there it is…to the hospital we go!
They called a Taxi and because of our cold chills Angela and I wrapped ourselves in some sheets (which was totally a God thing that we did and you will read why later) and climbed into the old van and off we went, accompanied by WonderWoman/Nurse Candice, Squadleader Evan, and a translator named Eta.
I could barely hold my head up on the way there, I was that weak. I was covered in sweat, yet freezing at the same time. At that moment my only fear is that I would get sent home and so I got real with God.
"Hey God ummm so I'm kind of miserable. In not complaining at all but I know you didn't call me to Albania to lay on a bathroom floor the whole time. So please heal Angela and I. Thanks!"
At that moment a feeling of complete peace swept over me and I looked up to see us pulling up to a fairly large, old building that was in desperate need of a paint job. It quickly dawned on me, "Oh dear sweet Lord Jesus this is the hospital!"
This is where things get a little gritty and intense….immediately when we got out of the car you could hear the piercing scream of a child in pain coming from the direction of the hospital. As we walked in the front door our eyes had to adjust to the very dimly lit hallway. As we began to walk, the sound of the cries of the baby grew louder and louder. Our driver began talking to the nurse at the end of the hallway. I looked around and pulled the sheet tighter to my body as if it would protect me from the scary dream it seemed I was in. Finally the driver turned around and motioned us to follow the nurse. We turned left and walked a ways until we came to a door on the left and the right right across from each other.
In the door to the left (which was wide open) was the screaming baby being held down on a stretcher as doctors where performing a procedure on it that sounded and looked quit painful. Candice quickly herded us into the doorway to the right. The room was extremely small and held four beds. All were taken, except one, which we were instructed to sit on. This is where we became extremely grateful for the fact that we brought our own sheets. The bed sheets were covered in blood and stained with other fluids, crusty, and hard. Right after we sat down, a doctor came in with a syringe and walked over to the gentleman literally laying two feet away from us. The man began to undo his belt and once again Wonder Woman/Nurse Candice intervened and said, "Alright ladies time to close your eyes." She stood right in front of us to shield the procedure taking place literally two feet in front of us.
At that moment with my head down and eyes closed Jesus began speaking to my heart:
"Marie, you are no different than these people! I love them and care about them so much. They are the reason you are here! Nothing separates you from them. You are sick and you needed care so you came to this hospital just like they did. You are breathing the same air, seeing the same things, hearing the same sounds as these people. The only thing that sets you apart at this very moment is that you know Me and you know My heart for these people. And they need to know how much I love them!"
The revelation of how much God cared for the Albanian people totally overwhelmed me in that hospital room. What happened next is kind of hard to explain but basically I literally felt a bit of strength course through my body. Our driver came into the room and told us that he had let the hospital know we were American so they gave us our own room (which we were informed that never happens) A nurse came in and gave me an I.V. of fluids that would hydrate my body and keep me from throwing up anymore. My teammate Angela refused to get an I.V. so they wrote her a prescription for some pills.
When I left that hospital room I felt 100% better and so did Angela. All the sudden we were extremely hungry and thirsty. Our color came back in our faces and, I don't know about Angela, but I could feel strength returning to my body. I honestly didn't think anything of it until we got back to the camp and Maggie (who is a nurse) said in her adorable southern accent, "y'all look like night and day! There is no way that one small bag of fluids could have helped you that much! I think God healed you!"
BAM! Of course He did! Why didn't I think of that! I mean the fact that Angela and I both were feeling that amazing and she hadn't even received the I.V. nor had she taken any medicine yet was proof. We never had any problems from that moment forward. We ate normally and kept it all down! I'm telling you God is a healer and He takes care of His people! I don't know why I ever doubt Him!
That night they made us sleep in our tents out in the sheep field so nobody else on the squad would catch the bug (which was quite an adventure with the sheep circling our tents and getting head butted awake at the crack of dawn) but the next morning we both got up and went on with business as usual hanging out and loving on kids! This is the first and most definitely not the last miracle that I will witness while on the field! I'm so in love with the people that God has given me the opportunity to come in contact with! Y'all our God is so powerful and so knows what He is doing! He loves to use His people to reach out, to touch, and to love on those whom He created and do not know Him yet! And there is nothing more fulfilling and invigorating than being in His will!
Thanks for reading and thank you for your prayers! They are obviously working 🙂
Quick financial update: I am halfway funded and am in need of $3,500 by October in order to continue on this mission. Thank you to all of you who have already invested in and have made this mission possible. If you feel led to give click on the SUPPORT ME TAB on the left side of my blog screen! Thank you and much love from Eastern Europe 🙂
