Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught...Psalm 55:1-2
I thought I was supposed to be on a medical mission trip in Uganda mid-July of this year. Everything was in place for Isaac and I to go on this trip that we've been wanting to experience for the past 2 years, and then all of our plans started to disintegrate. I took the wrong dates off of work, then we couldn't get in touch with the travel coordinator, then Isaac changed jobs, and then there was simply no time to be gone from our jobs. I just didn't understand why God did not work it out for us to go on this trip...a mission trip to help the needy and spread the gospel of all things! I have asked why so many times. I've questioned whether or not I should have gone on the trip alone. I was bothered to be at work in air-conditioning injecting cosmetics and healing acne that week when I could have been in the blazing-heat, healing the truly sick, needy people of Uganda. But, for some reason, I was not supposed to be there, and I had a strange peace despite my annoyance that my plans did not come to fruition.
Last night Isaac and I had dinner with the leaders/coordinators of that particular mission trip. We got to hear all that the Lord did through the medical team and other team members to reach the people of Uganda who desperately need medical care, clean water, mosquito nets, but need Jesus even more. I was sitting there just thinking, "why wasn't I there?!?" About the time I was mentally becoming very frustrated that I had missed out on this experience, the leader's wife, B, started to share her experiences from the trip. She looked my way and began a true story that broke my heart. She, being an American, was thought by the villagers to be rich. The people of this Ugandan village are extremely poor. Many of the women are taking care of their children and several orphans while bringing in an income for their families which never seems to stretch far enough. B said that a woman carrying a baby approached her and placed the baby in her arms. She then asked B to become the baby's mother and take the baby home with her to America. B, of course, had to tell this desperate woman "no" and give the baby back to its mother. Oh, my goodness...
I could not have handled that situation gracefully, nor would I have been able to focus on the task at hand had someone pleaded with me to take their baby home to the U.S. I would not have come home singing the Lord's praises for all He did, I would have been thinking about the little one left behind and his mother whom I could not help. My frustration immediately turned into gratefulness for the emotional protection provided for me. I'm thankful for an answer to my why and the reminder to simply trust.
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