Our very first day of ministry last week was visiting the sick in the hospital. As we took a tour of the hospital with Sally (one of our contacts), she showed us the different rooms and told the staff what we were doing. There were so many people in the waiting room. As we walked down the halls into different rooms we came across kids…beautiful children with big eyes, and curious stares. Some of the kids had family, some were abandoned. Some looked at us and smiled, others hid their faces from us. The women and children were so gracious to let us pray over them and come into their rooms.
I did not expect to be affected in the way I was. We went into a room and met Rosanne. My heart literally broke when I met her. Her condition was so bad. Sally informed us she might not even make it through the week. Her tiny body resembled a one or two year old…She is probably four or five. Her mother couldn’t even be in the hospital with her because she has to be at home to take care of the other children. Her grandmother was with her and held her body.
We gathered around her to pray for them. As I touched her and her grandmother to pray, my eyes filled with tears. I stuffed the tears down, not wanting to cry in front of them. As I prayed I begged God to heal her, “she is so helpless Lord”. When Sally finished her prayer she stroked her cheek saying something like, “The place you are going will be much happier and beautiful than this world, sweet baby.” I almost lost it. I pictured Rosanne running and dancing with Jesus. My heart was officially broken.
We went to see the newborns next. They each laid in the hospital beds with their mommas. We were told they don’t even name them until after 10 days so that they don’t get too attached because some of them won’t make it. My heart was overwhelmed with compassion over these mom’s and their babies.
I could’t help but mourn over things in my past. Could this be why I experienced so much pain? To love more tenderly on these women and babies? I found the Lord not too long after these heartaches. Could the pain these people are experiencing for a bigger purpose? Maybe like me..to bring them so much closer to a relationship with Jesus? And for those sweet, beautiful babies…to take them away from this world of pain and suffering to a much better place.
I got to go back later on in the day and spend time with a little girl named Catalina. We didn’t have a translator with us, so I had a hard time communicating with her mother. It took me a few minutes to get her to warm up to me, but after I did…seeing her smile and giggle and get this energy that came literally out of no where blessed me so much.
Pray for the Rosannes, the Catalinas, and the unnamed babies. They may not make it. But we are here to bring life….and our prayers can make a difference.
