The
last couple of times I’ve gone to the hospital I prayed that the Lord would
allow me to share my story with someone there. I imagined telling someone about how I came to know the Lord or even
just telling them about what the Lord is doing in my life now. I thought maybe I would be able to share
stories about the hard things I have gone through or poor decisions I have made
and how the Lord still used those times to refine me.
One
day I spent the afternoon at the hospital with two ladies who were there taking
care of their sister. We ended up
talking about the differences in our cultures as well as about our families. I showed them a picture that I have of my
whole family. I asked them about their
families and they glowed when they told me about their children and
grandchildren. It is impossible to talk
to woman who has sons without getting a marriage proposal from them. I politely listened to their request but
kindly declined. I didn’t share the part
of my story with these ladies that I had imagined, but I did share with them a
part of what has made me who I am today.
Another
visit to the hospital, I spent my time in the children’s malnourished
ward. There were two siblings there,
twins. The boy is healthy and doing
well, but his sister is not. They are
about 2 months old, but she only weighs (my guess) about 4 pounds. The mother was outside doing their laundry
when I got there and the baby girl was crying so I picked her up. She was hungry but I knew that I probably
wouldn’t be able to feed her because most mothers breast feed. I asked one of
the other ladies in the ward and they said that the baby is fed with 
formula. They handed me an adult sized cup and a
medicine measuring cup. I was supposed
to pour formula out of the larger cup and feed this tiny baby girl with the
measuring cup. The mother came back when
I was feeding her daughter. I saw an
immediate look of relief on her face. She was able to sit down and feed her son without worrying about her
daughter. After about 45 minutes of
slowly feeding her, she finished all of the formula. Her mother couldn’t believe it. Again, I had expectations of how I wanted to
share my story but that wasn’t at all how it happened. I was able to share a part of who I am and some
things I have learned from situations I have experienced, even though it was
not what I had pictured.
The
Lord taught me through those experiences that I may have an idea of what I
think a situation should look like, but He is the one who ultimately knows. I pray
that He will give me knowledge about situations I am going into and often times
I hear Him clearly, but there are also many times when I don’t get the right
picture. It is in times like those when
I want to be open and willing to do whatever the Lord has for me and not be set
on what I think should happen.
