It was day 2 of the clinic and all I expected was another crowd of people outside the gate, desperate for treatment.
The only thing on my mind though, was getting two of my sick teammates to the clinic as soon as we could find a vehicle.
I eventually found myself at the back of the clinic witnessing a woman in severe labor pains. And down the hall was an elderly man with lifeless eyes and a failing body.
Meanwhile, I was able to find a driver to pick up my teammates and bring them to the clinic.
As I’m walking through the aisles of the clinic looking into the faces of these desperate people, my heart began to weep. They so badly wanted to be free from their pain. But what I saw wasn’t physical pain. I saw hopeless souls who longed for something more.
I was in the room with the woman in labor for about an hour and a half. The baby was breach and they did not have the equipment to perform a c-section and the woman was too small to give birth naturally.
The man down the hall was released with an estimated time of about 2 more weeks on this earth.
My two teammates were diagnosed with cerebral malaria.
All of these people needed to be transported to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. The ambulance was out front. Easy enough, right? No. The ambulance driver, and yes there is only one, had left midafternoon because there was a death in his family and he had taken the keys with him.
So we have a dying man, a woman who needs an immediate c-section, two girls who need to be treated for malaria, and the ambulance driver who is MIA grieving from a death in the family.
Clearly these circumstances were not ideal. These people’s lives were on the line with very limited resources to provide necessary care. I was given a choice in that moment. I had the choice to either run away from God or run to him.
We’ve all seen examples of how the same suffering that causes one person to turn bitter, to reject God, to become angry and hard, can cause another person to turn to God, to become more gentle and more loving and more tender, willing to reach out to compassionately help other people who are in pain.
As one wise man once said: “I believe all suffering is at least potential good, an opportunity for good. It’s up to our free choice to actualize that potential. Not all of us benefit from suffering and learn from it, because that’s up to us- it’s up to our free will that God has given us.”
In 1 Peter 4: 12-13 it says, Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange is happening to you. Instead, be very glad, for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
God is not some far away, disinterested deity.
Bob Sorger, the author of Secrets of the Secret Place, explained:
When Jesus was hurting, He prayed. He prayed. When He hurt real hard, He prayed even harder. He prepared himself through prayer to endure the pain. If we respond properly, distress can actually be a gift. Pain can provide tremendous impetus to pray- if we allow it to catapult us into God’s face instead of polarizing us away from Him.
Consider how much God suffers as he shares the grief of the world and for how long He has suffered! And yet although His suffering is stronger than any of us realize, he is also filled with great joy. Only God can suffer so much with joy. One of the greatest challenges, in the place of hardship, is to suffer a long time with joy.
In James 1:2-3 it says, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a change to grow.
Jesus is in us and therefore, our sufferings are his sufferings; our sorrow is His sorrow.
God will make that baby boy a blessing to his people and I can’t wait to meet him one day. He will heal that old man and bring him peace. He will fill those desperate souls with hope. He will get the appropriate care my teammates need for a speedy recovery. His plans and his ideas are far greater than anything I could ever comprehend. The mystery of God can be frustrating, but faith in God is having hope in the unknown. I don’t know why circumstances are different all around the world and why some people are much better off than others, but what I do know and what I’m sure of, is that we are surrounded by the arms of our Heavenly Father, and the only way to be joyful during trials, is trusting God’s purpose in it.
1 Peter 1:6-9 “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold- though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Chris is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”
