A week ago I met Rey.
Rey is a 3 years old boy.
Rey was dying from liver cancer.
I watched him laying on this old hospital bed curled up in the fetal position with his little belly swollen way beyond its normal size.
The hospital was overcrowded and hot. I watched as old coke bottles caught the draining fluids from the patients‘ IVs. Other random bottles were used to hold old discarded needles. The hallways were lined with beds that were filled with sick patients uncomfortably waiting for help…for a reason to hope. It felt heavy, gloomy and hopeless…a strange difference from the joy we found all throughout the land.
But out of all that we saw Rey.
A small paper was taped above his bed with a few notes documenting his condition.
His mother sat tirelessly fanning him. There was fear in her eyes. We approached and asked to pray for her son. She was frantic sounding. She allowed us to pray, but her lifeless eyes just stared at the wall in front of us.
She had no money to get the medical help he needed.
We connected the mother with ICM that found a doctor that does surgeries for free for those who could not afford it.
The doctor refused to operate on Rey saying it was too risky.
Last night Rey died. He has become a statistic. No longer will this little boy smile. No longer will he play with his friends. No longer will he dream. His breath is gone, his life is over.
My heart hurts right now. Why did this little boy have to die? It was just a week ago I had my hand on him and his mother praying for healing. Why was your answer no, God?
All my life I hear of the dying children. Now I have seen it. It is the backdrop of my life now. I’m beginning to realize that I feel a portion of God’s heart breaking for His children.
I read this verse today… ” During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and he was heard…” Hebrews 5:7
God hears. Somehow in all the sadness I find comfort that God hears. He may answer us different then we want. I don’t know why. I don’t have to know why for His ways are greater than mine. But even Jesus’ prayers were answered differently.
Pray that in this pain she comes to know the God who hears her.
Some statistics: 
Photo by Ashley Huizenga
- There are an estimated 150 million street children worldwide.
- 1.5 million are currently in the Phillipines.
- 35,000 children worldwide die of starvation, malnutrition, or related diseases every day.
- An estimated 2.2 million Filipino preschoolers suffer from malnutrition.
- Every day 300 Filipino children die of preventable or curable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea, and measles
