As many of you know, I have a passion for taking care for people and that is the reason I would love to go into nursing. Therefore, Camp Hope is right up my alley; little recap, at Camp Hope we serve disabled people of all ages but primarily children ages 2-18. We help with Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, feeding, attention needs, hygiene needs, and many other small things. I will be working in a nursing home when I get back into Minnesota, and I had clinicals and training on how to take care of people in these conditions but there is something different about taking care of people who have been wore by time and people the same age as you who have been affected by sin. They would not have a disability if sin had not infected their bodies because it was not in God’s perfect design.
When I was in Anapra, Mexico, we always said that the only difference between us and the people we were serving was wherewe were born: the only difference between me and the people I’m serving now is howwe were born. God has blessed me with complete cognitive and physical abilities. I have the ability to Be Still. The phrase “Be Still” has become the theme of this trip for me; with all this change and uncomfortable situations I am thrown into many times I get very anxious. But this is the phrase God put on my heart and spoke to me at training camp and He knows best what I need in my life. The reason I mention this is because the children I am serving don’t have the ability to be still.
They don’t have the ability to stop moving or control their movements, their vocal cords move without them trying and misfire when they attempt to speak. They can’t do simple tasks we take for granted like feed themselves or walk without something/someone to keep them stable, speak, rest, pain attention, or have a cognitive age that matches their actual age.
With all these deficits that range in severity I had questions. (This is taken directly out of my journal) Do these people have enough cognitive abilities to accept Christ or acknowledge and understand Christ as their redemption? Obviously these are children of God who’s are loved by Him, but just like babies who died before they have an understanding of redemption, where does God’s grace step in over free will, meaning, does God’s love cover cognitive disability?
I understand this is a heavy question. It makes you lean of God’s grace and have hope in His fair judgement but what I saw the next day brought me to tears. They have a small Bible study where they didn’t really pay attention but they did sing a song that was memorized about how God was big and strong and how Jesus saved them. Now, knowing of Christ is not enough to be saved (Mark 3:7-11, the demons acknowledge and know Jesus but they are not saved), but to believe in Him as your salvation and His redemptive story. But as said in 1 Timothy 2:4, God wants all to be saved. These amazing people I have the privilege to serve all have child like faith and it amazes me that they will never question Christ. Like a child they believe and accept without question. They believe a spoon is called a spoon because that is what they were told and they will never question that; the same logic follows their faith in Christ.
Not only am I being humbled by these people but I am learning how to live my faith, without question or doubt but only certainty. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have a conversation with them in heaven without the barrier of sin and disability because all that will be wiped away and made perfect in heaven. And I cannot wait to introduce you all to them in heaven. Many will meet Christ and see heaven before us because of their disabilities taking them early but that just means they can give us the tour when we get there.
Again thank you for reading! If you have any questions comment below and I will attempt to answer as fast as possible. If you would like to pray for me in a more specific way, you can pray for my endurance on this trip, for my toenail not to fall off, for my taste buds to magically like every meal I am served, for my heart to change and acknowledge my sinful ways, for me to acknowledge the constant presence of God, and for my team to continue living well in constant community. Thanks for all the support!
