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Fighting back tears
Posted : 19 May, 2008 01:06 AM
> This story was written by a doctor who worked in South Africa.
>
> One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of
> all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying
> two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we
> had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator.)
>
> We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator,
> nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for
> the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be
> wrapped in.
>
> Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back
> shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber
> perishes easily in tropical climates). 'And it is our last hot water bottle!'
> she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk so in
> Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles
> They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.
>
> 'All right,' I said, 'put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep
> between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep
> the baby warm.'
>
> The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the
> orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various
> suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I
> explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot
> water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also
> told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
>
> During prayer time, one ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt
> conciseness of our African children. 'Please, God' she prayed, 'send us a water
> bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send
> it this afternoon.'
>
> While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, 'And while You
> are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know
> You really love her?'
>
> As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly
> say,'Amen'. I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that
> He can do everything, the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The
> only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel
> from my homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I
> had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a
> parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator! Halfway
> through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a
> message was sent that there was a car at my front door.
>
> By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a
> large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open
> the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.
>
> Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the
> paper, taking care not to tear it unduly.
>
> Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the
> large cardboard box.
>
> From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I
> gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients,
> and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and
> sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my
> hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out
> - yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to
> send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of
> the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the bottle, He
> must have sent the dolly too!'
>
> Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully
> dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!
>
> Looking up at me, she asked: 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that
> little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?'
>
> That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up by my former
> Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a
> hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly
> for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of
> a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon.'
>
> 'Before they call, I will answer' (Isaiah 65:24)
May this bless you as it did me.
T:goofball:mie
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hedgedweller
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Fighting back tears
Posted : 7 Jun, 2008 01:10 AM
ok,,, enough of all this,,,,,, snif snif,, wipe wipe,,, very nice again ,,,,,,tomie,,,,,,,
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