On Thursday, we went to the Manzini hospital. I had bought Senanile some Easter candy and made her a sign but when I got there found out that she had been discharged. (Praise the Lord!!) The Easter candy that I bought for her had 8 big chocolate eggs in it, so I decided that I would hand them out to a few kids. I had two eggs left and went into the room across to hand them out. There were two ladies, a mage (mom) who was not much older than me, and a gogo (grandma) who was probably in her 50’s. They were trying to feed an 8 month old baby boy, who was lying with his mouth open gasping as he attempted to eat. The mom’s face lit up when I brought the egg and she put it in front of the little boy’s face, smiling. I really felt God telling me to stay and pray with this family, not just give them an egg like I had with the others. I started to pray for the child to get better, but then felt God leading me to pray most importantly for the situation to bring them to a more intimate relationship with Him. I gave the mom a hug and then left the room only to hear Meagan cry out a few minutes later, “something is happening, I think a baby just died.” I immediately saw that something was going on with the ladies and baby boy that I had just prayed for. I walked over and saw the mom look at her child and then place the sheet over his entire body. The gogo started wailing and I embraced the mom who then started to wail in my arms. The nurse came and wheeled the child out of the room and I walked with the mom. She began to collect all of the blankets that had been drying outside and once again collapsed in my arms to wail.
I sat there, with tears streaming down my face, asking God, “why?” I couldn’t imagine what this mom must be experiencing at the moment seeing as I was devastated and had only known the child for minutes. I continued to talk to, pray over, and hold the two ladies for the next hour. The gogo told us that this was the second death in their family in the past month. The other family member that died was still in the morgue because they couldn’t afford to transfer her and they didn’t have enough money for a funeral. The baby had been sick since Christmas and they had been taking him from clinic to clinic for care but he was just too sick. Even though the family had been through so much, they were still full of so much hope. They were not bitter at all, but saw both the baby’s death and my presence as an answer to prayer.
My heart is so broken for this family. It is in these situations when I truly have to dwell on the verse, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” It’s so hard for me to praise him and worship him—saying how great he is and how wonderful his plans are—when I see the hurt, pain, and grieving that took place that day. I’m also realizing though, that the moment I start to question God, I need to worship him most and be reminded of his holiness and glory. It’s not about me understanding; it’s about Him being the perfect ruler and him reigning in EVERY situation. I am really praying to always find confidence, peace, and hope in Psalm 18: 30: “as for God, his way is perfect.”
Even though the day was incredibly rough emotionally, it was amazing to see how God was able to use me. I know that I was where he wanted me and it was awesome to see how he arranged the day to have me right where he needed me. I was actually able to meet up with the mom, dad, and grandma the next day to help them out with the funeral and pray with them. The mom is only 16 and not yet married to the dad. The grandma requested that we pray for the numerous demonic attacks that had been taking place against their family lately. Please pray that God will continue to comfort the family. Pray that they too will continue to remain hopeful and confident in God’s plan regardless of the deaths and sickness in their family.
