I have hit the half waypoint on my Race and the realities of living in very close community have set in. We all have different sleep patterns, some are morning people and some are night owls, different voice levels, different tastes, different ways we communicate with the Lord and at the end of the day we are all so loved by God just the way we are. His love has shown and been proven to me in so many different & new ways on this journey. Above all, one of the greatest lessons I have learned is that I am a vessel of Christ in and among all the nations. This means God can use me for His glory and honor and I can do nothing but allow Him to use me. I can’t save people, heal them, or break poverty cycles without His direct influence and sharing His love with everyone I encounter.
Being His vessel became so evident to me as I pulled up to a house, here in Swaziland, to pick up a lady to take her to the clinic for treatment of ovarian cancer. Just a week prior my team and I had visited her for a house visit, and it was very noticeable that she is sick. She could barely move without any assistance, lost control of any movement of one of her arms, and was very thin, and as she shared her story through tears, my heart immediately broke for her. The latest visit was to pick her up for the clinic; her 17-year-old son and neighbor were basically carrying her to the van. Immediately, I could see she was much weaker and was not getting any better. As she lay on the seat of the van, we made our way to the clinic and she went in to get her treatment.
We returned an hour or so later to find out she couldn’t get the treatment due to not being able to find her vein. This meant no relief, and we were to take her home in the same pain she had upon arrival. My team was dropped off at the care point by her house and I went with a staff member to take her to her home. No one was home; so this meant her neighbor and I took her in. As we each were on one side of her, she was able to walk to the doorway with a couple of breaks. After making it to the door, she was so tired from the walk to the house that we had to carry her to her bed. I carried her upper body, and we made our way down the hallway to her room with a full size bed. Upon laying her down, I took the time to pray God’s will over her and what He has planned for her. Walking out of that house there were so many different emotions flowing through me.
The main emotion was the reality of the way of life here and of the poverty that is all around me right now. Life is so different here in Swaziland, but God is still doing much work here. This day was what I imagined the Race to be like, and this is one of the stories that will go with me forever. How I was able to carry this lady to her bed when she was physically unable to walk herself. Through this I was able to pray over this lady and ask the Lord to do His Will in her life.
