Thank you to all who are praying. I am feeling a lot better. It is an amazing experience to
be covered in prayer.
When I arrived at the clinic, my vitals were checked. My
fever was so high I was immediately placed on a bed in the ward. Shortly after,
I was given an injection in my posterior. The nurses were good to me. They do a
great job treating the maladies that are common in this area. After my fever
was down, they tested for malaria and checked my white blood cell count.
Malaria was negative so they suspected giardia because my white blood cell
count was up. I was near dehydration so I was given a liter of fluids and
intravenous antibiotics. After a few hours, they left my IV port in and sent me
home. I returned to the clinic twice more for fluids and antibiotics before my
port was removed.
As I was laying in the clinic ward bed my thoughts were whirling.
Two things dominated my mind. The first was “What in the world am I doing here
lying in a hospital bed in Zambia?” If someone had told me just a year ago that
this is where I would be, I don’t know if I would have believed it. My mind
spun further from that to consider how the Author of Adventure is moving all
over this earth. How He is speaking to individuals where to serve, how to share
His Kingdom with others, and sharing How He desires His name to be glorified
all over the earth. Isn’t life with Him exciting?
The second thing I was overwhelmed by was the extent of
human suffering. All around me I heard the cries of those suffering. It took my
thoughts to those everywhere being mistreated and abused. The poor and
downtrodden, those who have no one to defend them or protect them. My spirit
within me cried, “How long, O Lord? How long before justice is yours? How long
will the wicked go unpunished?”
Here in Zambia, life is raw. I know this sounds weird, but I
don’t know how to describe it. Life and death are intense. The struggle to live
is real. Things seem unpolished somehow. Not in a bad way, but often in the
States things can seem clean and sterile. Here, humanity is lived out before
the eyes of all. If you are happy, you dance and let out shouts and
exclamations of joy. If you are sad or mourning, you voice a keening wail. When
you call upon the Lord, you do so audibly and publicly.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the
earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons
of God. For we know that the whole
creation groans and labors together until now…we ourselves groan within
ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. From Romans
8.
