Today was a wild day. There’s so much I could talk about when it comes to the craziness that was today. If you want the lighthearted version of the day, just watch the video at the bottom of this blog post.
However, if you’d like to hear about what God taught me today through an encounter with a nine year old little girl then stick around.
So here’s the deal: There’s a man with a disability that goes to our church here in Rwanda. He has 4 children (two of them are twins). The twins are just nine years old. Our host told us that Esther (one of the twins) was hit by a car eight months ago as she was walking home from school with her brother. She was in a coma for two months and stayed in the hospital for four additional months. She is now back at home with her parents and siblings, but she is not the same.
The Esther that I was told about was a little girl who was very bright, loved singing songs about Jesus and enjoyed learning new things. But the Esther I met was radically different. The Esther I met has a brain that is only functioning at 13%. The Esther I met can barely mumble a word, feed herself, or walk unassisted. In the wake of such a tragic, life-changing accident, we were asked to go visit with this family and pray with them for their precious baby girl.
After hearing the testimony of God’s faithfulness in the life of this family, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw when we walked into that room to see Esther. Crossing the threshold and seeing her for the first time, tears started to fill my eyes. And I’m not a cryer, so that’s a big deal. Our team gathered around to pray for Esther, and that’s exactly what I did. I prayed for Esther just about as hard as I’ve ever prayed for anything in my life. Praying that God would heal her. Praying that He would work a miracle for this family. That Esther would walk again, and talk again, and sing again!
And He didn’t. At least not yet.
And that’s okay.
You see, I believe that God can work miracles. Multiple times in the Bible people were healed (Matthew 4:23, Luke 4:40, and many others). God has healed people before and I firmly believe He can still do it this very day. But that day wasn’t today. I don’t know why, but that’s the way it is. What I do know is that God has a lot more of the picture than I do. Isaiah 55:8 says that God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. I’m not sure what purpose God has for this family in the midst of this tragic time, but I know that we can trust Him.
The Apostle Paul writes about “a thorn” that was given to him in his flesh. He said that he pleaded with God three times to take it away, but God didn’t. God’s response: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
God responded to Paul’s prayers for healing not by curing him, but instead by working through Paul’s suffering to draw him nearer to His glory. That’s my hope and prayer for this family, and for Esther. I’m praying that one day (soon) she will make a miraculous recovery, because I know the Lord can make it happen. But I also know He doesn’t have to. And even if He does choose to heal Esther it doesn’t have to happen on our time. Whatever teaching and growing God wants to do in this situation I pray that it’s done, and in the end that God is glorified through it all.
We sat in church today (a few days after the previous writing) and I watched as Esther’s father, a disabled man with a disabled daughter, lifted his hands to praise the God of Heaven and Earth in the midst of the pain and tragedy of this world. If anything good has come out of this, it’s at least been used to draw me closer to God, to His Word, and to the future hope:
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
Please join our team in lifting up Esther and her family in prayer during this difficult time.
Once again, if you’d prefer the lighthearted version of the day (basically everything that happened up until the evening we met Esther) Here’s the video:
Also, if you missed our last blog post, we want to let you know that we will be returning to the field in January 2019 to help lead the next group of missionaries for 6 months. If you’d like to help support us, we are selling shirts and sweatshirts to help raise funds to cover the cost of 6 additional months on the field.
You can use this link to check them out: www.bonfire.com/themissionfields/
