All Things

Our clinics seem to be full of pregnant women and newborns lately.  We've seen young ladies with first pregnancies, full of questions and concerns, usually accompanied by husband and mother-in-law.  We've seen experienced, tired  moms accompanied by 2-3 young kids.  There are the pregnant moms who come in crying, knowing they are miscarrying. We've seen couples struggling with infertility for years who out of the blue, show up in clinic beaming that they are expecting a long awaited child.

And we've seen the pregnant ladies, young and older who are surprised (or act surprised) that they are in this "situation".

My heart always goes out to these ladies because they are facing difficult times and relationship problems. Last week was a young married woman whose husband has been working in the States for two years, and now she finds herself pregnant by another man.  She tried asking for all kinds of treatments for imaginary symptoms hoping I would prescribe something to "fix her problem." In the end we talked about how she will have to tell her husband and in-laws soon before they find out from someone else. And we prayed.  She is a Christian and she seemed eager to pray together.  I hope her faith in God will guide her decisions.

We found out that another of our patients, M. had her baby in December.  M. was born with severe facial and skeletal deformities and has lived her life being the family servant (slave) or working for others.  She came in last year with all the classic symptoms of pregnancy, and I asked if she might be pregnant.  "No, doctora."  She had a palpable pelvic mass the size of a 4 month pregnancy and I offered to ultrasound her.  Sure enough there was an active 4-month gestation fetus on the screen.  She cried and confessed that she had been taken advantage of and didn't know what to do.  We prayed together and asked God to help her and give her courage.

Her family told her she would not be able to carry the baby successfully and that it would be "deformed and ugly like her." Over the months she began to change her outlook and began to ask to see the baby on ultrasound again and again.  Each time we would pray. The lady she worked for would bring her in concerned by the emotional mistreatment from her family.  After visits to the OB clinic in the hospital and careful planning for her cesarean delivery, she finally she had her baby.  A beautiful fully developed baby girl. And M. still endures the taunting from her own family, "how can someone as ugly as you have such a beautiful baby?" But according to her employer, M. is a wonderful attentive mother and enjoying her baby.

I don't know how someone can endure that kind of mistreatment and learn to be such a loving parent except by the help of God and other godly people in their lives.  I don't know how an unfaithful wife suffering the consequences of her actions will make it through this trial.  I don't know what to say to the couple who is infertile after 15 years of marriage.  I don't know how to comfort a poor couple with 8 children who didn't plan on having another.

I think there are things in our lives that come from our planning, or lack thereof, and sometimes by consequence of our or others' decisions and sometimes by the will of God.  But in Romans there is a verse that comforts us in all of these cases. Just like a new human life being knit together, God uses all of our life's "situations" and choices and consequences and knits them together to form something good if we love Him.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28.

Starting the Year Off Right

And we are back!  Back to work, back to good nutrition and exercise and all of the promise that a new year holds. 

We started our work week yesterday in Clinica Caris and the Chichicastenango Church of Christ.  Lots of familiar faces and patients welcoming us all back to work.  It was great to see everyone again.
Then today we scheduled a work day to get all of our travel boxes and medicines organized and cleaned out and a community meeting with the churches from the Mactzul area.  It was busy but good. 

Finishing the day on a good note, we heard from one of our coworkers, Cesar that at his church they have 5 who are wanting be baptized into Christ, 3 of which came to the church "on their own". I asked how they had come to know the church and he said that several were family or neighbors of current members and one lady who had been attended to kindly by ladies from the church after several of her deliveries and wanted to be a member of such a group. This made us remember that Jesus himself said in John 13:35  "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

To drive home the point, we had a patient show up today after wrecking his motorcycle on the highway outside of our clinic.  One of the neighbors brought him over an said she knew were weren't seeing patients today but could we help take care of the man.  She then called a truck to come by and help carry his motorcycle home.  I asked her if she was family of his and she said, "no, I just know that God would want me to help him."
So go out and love your neighbor.  The best evangelism is leaving the walls of the church building and showing love to others.