What got me here was one question. What kept me here was hope.
A few years ago I was working at camp. Someone asked me a question that I really believe changed it all.
What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about money?
I was speechless. Really, I had no answer and I was embarrassed. I mean who doesn’t have dreams? So it got me thinking.
To answer it I asked myself some of these things:
What do I love?
What am I good at?
What have I done in the past?
What do others see in me?
What do I hate?
What do I see that I can’t stand?
And with time, something began to take shape. I love kids. I really do. I love their innocence, joy, fearless nature, and ability to bounce back from hardships. I hate when their trust is broken and their innocence is defiled.
I began to look. When I looked, my eyes were open to realities that still make my stomach hurt.
I found Adventures in Missions through a general internet search and knew. I thought to myself, now or never.
Five months later I boarded a plane to Kolkota ready to work and love in a boys home/orphanage. God had let me know that even though money was something I worried about it’s not something he does. So I went.
Three months of sweating, laughing, crying, and playing with the cutest kids I’ve ever known had gone by. The end of my time in India was coming and I had this panicky feeling. I didn’t want to leave anything undone. I had said yes to God when I got on the plane and I wanted to end my time there the same way.
So when he put it on my heart to go to a hospital and pray over sick people, I did it. Even though I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, I did it.
I walked into this hospital with my team and immediately found it difficult to breath. I sucked in air through my mouth because the smell was so bad. I forced my feet to lead me up the stairs to the pediatric ward when all I wanted to do was run the other way. It was all I could do to keep my face smooth instead of wrinkled from grief. It was dark and damp and dirty. I kept thinking the only way anyone comes here is that they absolutely have no other option.
I made it to the room where we would be allowed to pray but all I could do was stare. My teammate budged me and whispered something like
You were the one who pushed for us to come here today, go.
But I couldn’t go. How could I? There were a hundred little faces looking at me, waiting. Waiting, for what though? Healing… Jesus… a teddy bear? Could I even give them any of that?
Honestly I just couldn’t stand them staring at me any longer so I started to move. In each bed there were two patients. With each patient was a parent. With four to a bed and a room packed with beds I had no idea where to start so I picked the one that looked the most sick.
I began to talk with the mother who told me a little about herself and her daughter. This little girl of maybe two or three had gotten into some household cleaners and was poisoned. The doctor walked by and said in passing that if she didn’t show improvement in the next 48 hours she wouldn’t survive.
I looked into the mothers eyes and saw her desperation and exhaustion. Without waiting another second I asked if I could pray.
With that, she looked at me and began to weep. She took my hands into hers and held them to her face. She rocked back and forth and wept. She completely fell apart at the seams when I offered her hope. In my own nervousness I had completely forgotten Jesus. I didn’t even mention his name or tell her who my God is. But when she heard that there might be hope, she lost it.
The tiniest sliver of hope was more than she could bear.
It reminds me of Job 14…
“For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that its tender shoots will not cease.
Though its root may grow old in the earth,
And its stump may die in the ground,
Yet at the scent of water it will bud
And bring forth branches like a plant.”
In this verse, the water had not yet come. It only smelled like rain. The hope that it might rain brought the tree back to life.
It was the thought that there could be hope for her daughter.
This hope holds power. It’s a hope that will bring grown men to their knees. It will keep the lost looking for a way out.
Because there’s hope, I go.
This is the part of World Race blogs I always check out at too. But please. So many generous donations have been given but there is still a need.
I’m 43% funded! Praise God, there is still time for you to join me. If you feel called to share hope but aren’t able to go, you can still do it by giving. Giving doesn’t feel glamorous or exciting but…
It IS valuable
It IS a blessing
It IS responding to Jesus
It IS sharing hope
To give, there is a link on the left side of the screen that says “Support Me”
