Tuesday 28 Jul
Kath shares a story and reflects on what it actually is that God asks of us.
"Recently a friend called me early on a Sunday morning to go and visit a family member of hers who had given birth a few days earlier. She told me that the baby was premature (7 1/2 months) and had been crying all night. The mother had lost a child the previous year after given birth at 7 months and was terrified. I set off, met my friend and her sister and walked down the hill to the woman’s house.
As we walked in I could almost feel the despair in the air. I remember those early nights when I was struggling and that was in a hospital with all the support in the world. This lady was alone, living in a mud brick hut perched on the side of a hill with a sheet strung up in the corner to stop the howling wind from coming in. It was cold, dark and tiny ants covered the floor. She was visibly shaken, perhaps thinking she was going to lose another child. At first I was a little nervous - what did I have to offer?!
We sat and chatted for a bit and then I asked to see the baby, bracing myself for the worst. When she brought him out, wrapped in two thin capulanas, I unwrapped him to see that he looked really quite big for 7 1/2 months! Phew! She said that he had started to breastfeed a bit that morning. I told them how important it was to keep him warm - we talked about kangaroo care… and kangaroos. We chatted about how she’d seen me at a funeral a few months earlier. I asked if I could pray and she readily agreed.
It was all so simple really and I certainly didn’t do anything special. But I was reminded again that God doesn’t really ask much of us except to be obedient. To go and sit with people, spend time listening and encouraging, maybe offer a word of helpful advice and pray. I could almost feel the atmosphere in that room shift as we sat there chatting, laughing and praying. It was such a small thing yet so incredibly powerful. A few weeks on and the woman and her little boy are both doing fine!"
- Kath, Intercultural Worker in Mozambique
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