Today’s post was originally written by Kirstie, a CAMA international worker serving in Guinea.
I was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged in the weeks leading up to my family’s trip to Thailand for CAMA’s 50-Year Anniversary Celebration Event. We were a few months into living in our new community, and I felt swamped from juggling my schedule of being a mom, teacher, and wife while learning a new language and trying to figure out exactly what I was supposed to be doing here.
As we left for Thailand, I prayed for peace and clarity upon our return, as well as language-learning opportunities. All these prayers were answered before we even arrived back home.
Before we went to Thailand, my husband, Isaac, had met a woman—Belle*—who had been badly burned. We prayed about her situation and decided that I should visit her daily, when possible, and bring her protein—something that is utterly necessary for her to heal well but is expensive here.
The first day after I’d been introduced to her, I drove to meet with her. I felt incredibly anxious—I didn’t speak her language! So, I put some encouraging music on, and the song “Stand Up” by Petra came on (it’s a classic!). There’s one line that really struck me:
“Out of our pews and into the streets,
making some use of our beautiful feet.”
With those few words, I realized that so much of my anxiety over the last few months had nothing to do with what I’d thought and everything to do with me not having a good outlet yet for ministry—me not being patient with God to bring me His ministry in His time! My “feet” felt ugly and hidden, but now I’ve been taking them out every day to sit with a woman who is not only in physical pain but also spiritual darkness.
Belle is burned because she had a seizure while cooking a meal. Her family believes that the seizure was caused by a demon, which reminds me of the story of the demonized boy in Mark 9. The boy’s father said the demon “often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him.” Thank God that Belle was not destroyed!
We are very encouraged by her healing so far—the first time Isaac saw Belle, she couldn’t get out of bed, but now she can walk and has good mobility in her burned leg. We’re praying now for mobility in her arm where her burns are much more extensive. We’re also praying for her salvation—Jesus came not just to heal the sick but to give us all the hope of salvation.
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion,
‘Your God reigns!’”—Isaiah 52:7
While this has been a good language-learning opportunity for me (praise God!), my language skills are not up to sharing any great truths beyond, “Thanks, I’m going home now.” Pray that the materials I’ve shared with Belle and her family (some audio recordings of the gospel story and the JESUS film) will be a vehicle of God’s truth to them. Belle’s husband and several of his family members are Deaf, so we’re looking for ways to communicate with them beyond misunderstanding their family sign language.
Please be in prayer for Belle, her continued healing, and her family. Please also pray for us as we forge this new relationship—that we can communicate clearly and kindly and that we keep Christ first. Also pray for our kids, since they have seen her wounds and her pain—we want them to be able to process this (and other things like this situation) well.
*Name changed
