Chapter Two: Harsh Realities and a Mother's Love

Tonight, I will sleep very little as I wrestle with a heavy heart. The realities of this culture are too difficult for words sometimes, the symptoms of a broken world far too evident. Perhaps I was numb to the pain the first week of being here, caught up in the excitement of new experiences but dull to the fact that behind each new procedure was a person... and today, reality came pounding at the walls of my heart.

It was in the treating a four year old girl for a condition brought on by sexual abuse. The questions tumbled about in my heart of how anyone could commit such an atrocity against someone so innocent and defenseless. Though this is far from being exclusive to Haiti, I ache tonight for the little Haitian girl who fought so hard against our well-meaning hands, knowing that she has been exposed to the darkest of the dark in the world already...

Soon after, a woman came in, her body already in the process of delivering her stillborn child. Her fourth unsuccessful pregnancy. Though she did not wail or weep, there was sadness in her eyes. I was in the room, but not fully present with her, task oriented. Check the vitals. Check for bleeding. Unable to communicate, unable to connect with her pain in that instance for fear that I would let my own emotions go.

It makes me reflect upon motherhood, and the beautiful  role of a mother. A mother is the only home a child knows for the first nine months of it's life, and continues to be sustained by her body for months afterward, nursing at her breast. The mother is a giver, knowing a love so deep and sacrificial my mind cannot even fathom it. Mothers are shapers of the next generation. I pay tribute to all the mothers, both with babies old and young, both on this earth and in heaven, for their love, their sacrifice, and their toil.

I am thankful for places like Haiti Health Ministries that exist in these communities to offer good medical care, support, and most of all, the hope of Christ, to the hurting in this nation. I am amazed by the fulltime missionaries who have given their lives over to this work, to seeing these realities and continuing on in their faithful kingdom work.

I am thankful most of all, for a healing Father. For a God who is good when the world seems void of goodness. For a Comforter. I am thankful for His arms that opened up to receive this mother's child today.

Prayer requests that come to mind:
Again, for the staff to show Christ's love and for opportunities to offer His hope to the hurting.
Pray for this mother as she copes with her loss
Pray for this little girl, and the many children trapped in similar situations.
Pray for me to depend on God fully, and for His supply of compassion, grace and strength