This month we are in Panama in a small town located in the Chiriquí province at a YWAM Base.
In our first week one of things that we got to be a part of is a clinic called God’s eyes (a non profit that provides free eye care around the world).
We were told the night before that we would be leading a children’s program while the parents go through the clinic. We planned interactive songs, a skit and tons of games. We brought all kinds of sports gear, coloring pages and even nail polish to entertain as many kids as possible. When we pulled up to the village and walked into the church where the clinic was being held we found one kid. Just one.
All 6 of us immediately knew that today would be different than we had planned.
One of the leaders of the clinic (Joy) began to show us the different stations where they gave eye exams, made prescription glasses, prayed/shared the gospel with each person and then gave them there new glasses for free.
We then all split up to the different stations that needed the most help. After a little while, I was introduced to Alfonso (one of the volunteers from the clinic) and his mother Martha. Alfonso began speaking to me about his mother in Spanish and said that she had been hit by a car two years ago and was suffering from a head injury that had damaged her short-term memory inhibiting her from creating any new memories. He asked me if I could stay with her while he prayed and shared the gospel with the different people at the clinic. I told him that I’d be happy to and sat next to Martha.
I immediately tried to think of any questions I could ask her in Spanish to learn more about her life. I asked her basic questions; she asked me basic questions and then a few minutes later I found her asking me the same questions again. Then I realized how short her short-term memory actually was. It was a matter of a few minutes (sometimes it seemed like even a matter of seconds) before she asked the same question or went back to the same thought that she had spoken to me before. Donde esta mi hijo Alfonso?
She would often go back to this question. She was constantly worried about where her son was and if she didn’t have eyes on him she would get up and start looking for him to make sure she knew where he was.
Now I could see why he had asked me to stay with her. So that he could be solely focused on sharing with the people from the village that came to the clinic.
So there we were, just Martha and I sitting on a bench, often walking around to find other benches, and having short conversations in-between looking for Alfonso. In all of this, I suddenly had a thought, “would you dare love someone that might not remember you or remember anything that you did for them?” My mind immediately went to what God thought of Martha. I knew that he cherished her, loved her fiercely and had a purpose for her.
The answer was simple. Yes, OF COURSE.
So I decided I would cherish her too, listen to her intently even when I didn’t fully understand all that she was saying, or when we had just talked about the same thing a minute earlier. I decided I would be gentle and patient with her and continually reassure her that her son was nearby and was fine because that mattered to her. I decided I would take interest in what brought her joy: flowers. We walked around and talked about all the flowers we saw over and over again. Which ones were her favorites, the ones with the prettiest colors, the most common we found etc. Even if she didn’t remember me or what I did, I wanted her to be seen how the Lord saw her and cherished as the Lord cherishes her.
In the midst of our time together Alfonso would come back and forth every once and a while and check on us. He would say thank you very much and ask me if I was practicing my Spanish with her. As we sat near him when he prayed for many people and shared with them about the Lord I could tell that he was a natural evangelist and LOVED people so well. I watched him have conversations and light up when he got to talk to each person. I knew that even sitting with Martha let him do something he loved and probably didn’t get to do much since his mother needed constant care. It brought so much joy to my heart watching him and seeing him run around the room in freedom to do what the Lord had placed on his heart.
During one of our small conversations throughout the day I got the courage to ask her about Jesus. I figured if the conversation didn’t go well she would forget in a matter of seconds anyways. I asked her if she knew Jesus and believed in him. Immediately she looked at me and said, “Yes Yes” and started talking all about the Lord and I could tell she knew him personally. Joy filled my heart and I got the biggest smile hearing that a woman who seemingly couldn’t learn anything-new KNEW JESUS. I was reminded of the goodness of the Lord in that even in the midst of her accident two years ago, her memories of the Lord were untouched.
It’s cool to see what the Lord has for us each day and often how different it can be than you expected. Some days you walk into the day thinking you are going to be singing silly songs, preforming skits and playing sports when instead you get to meet a sweet old woman like Martha and spend hours with her just enjoying her presence. Even though this day was different than what I expected, I wouldn’t trade a second of it. I know what the Lord has is better, is higher, is perfectly purposed and perfectly timed.
I plan to trust in this as I continue to follow and I cannot wait to see how he continues to crush my expectations.
