I’ve been working with children most of my life, and I think I’ve seen it all when it comes to them being sick. From bumps and bruises to bloody noses and broken bones. From tummy aches and bug bites to diarrhea and projectile vomiting. When one of my students would come to me not feeling good I could usually diagnose the problem just by looking at them. I’d say about 98% of the time their feelings are hurt, they miss mom and dad, or they didn’t get enough sleep the night before and nap time should be sooner rather then later. I learned a fantastic tip for these kinds “sicknesses”.
Put a wet paper towel on whatever is “hurting”, apply slight pressure for 10-15 seconds, kiss them on the forehead and send them on their way. Or to shake things up, take their temperature and tell them the thermometer says they’re fine.
Works like a charm.
There are times when they really are sick and they need to be taken to the doctor. But generally speaking they just need some extra love and attention.
But Miriam is different. She is sick, but more then that her spirit is crushed.
Yesterday we were doing door to door evangelism in our neighborhood in Busia and we came across a group of woman sitting under a tree in a small mud hut community. When my team mates and I walked over we didn’t have a translator so we greeted them, smiled at their adorable children, and continued on. We went next door to another woman’s house and when they saw that we were praying for her one of the older woman came back to get us. When our translator finally arrived the woman showed us to Miriam. She had been sick since last June with a nasty chest cold and a horrible cough. The doctors said that her body didn’t produce enough blood and as a result her immune system was always down making her susceptible to everything. Even the slightest cold was hard on her body. They couldn’t afford blood transfusion and because things became too hard, Miriam’s mother had abandoned her. This community had taken her in. She lay under the shade of a tree on a flimsy foam mattress covered with a tattered old sheet. She was small for her age, probably 6 or 7, but fragile and much too thin. He body was weak, but her face said it all.
Her heart was completely broken and her spirit was entirely crushed. Looking into her eyes I felt my heart ripped from my chest.
No thermometer, no kiss on the forehead, no amount of wet paper towels could help this child. She was sick and weak, but worst of all she was abandoned. She was not too young to understand that. We stayed with her awhile, we prayed over her, and then it was time to go.
I walked away thinking “I am powerless to save her, to fix her, or comfort her”
Even if she does receive the medication she needs to be physically well, her heart and her spirit are still broken. But then this verse came to mind.
Psalm 34:18
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
So now I’m asking you to pray with me that God would heal Miriam’s body of sickness and mend her broken heart and lift her crushed spirit. I have faith that God alone can save her, fix her, and comfort her.
