Do you ever really DEPEND on God for anything? I mean REALLY depend on Him? Sure we say that we need God, trust God, love God, even depend on God. But don't we always pretty much take care of things ourselves? If your child needs new clothes- don't you buy him some? If your car is broken- don't you take it to the mechanic and hand over the credit card? Living in the "land of plenty" (which is what America is known as over here) it's easy to take care of things ourselves. Our dependency on God is saved for the big things like healing cancer, protecting our safety, and things like that. Yes, HE is faithful in ALL things big and small...but most of us don't have to worry Him with the small things.
Living in a "majority world" country like Malawi has been very eye opening. It's been amazing but difficult at the same time. We have gone an entire week without water in our home. Not one ounce of water coming from our faucets. Daily power outages are the norm. My children are running out of shoes and clothes that fit and I have no way to get them new ones. WalMart and Target aren't an option. Internet shopping has to be planned months in advance. I've prayed more, been on my knees more, cried more, and been broken more over the last two years than I ever could have imagined. Yet I wouldn't trade any of it because it was through those trials, hardships, and traumas that the Lord showed HIS mercy. He was my strength when I couldn't stand. He was the smile on my face when I wanted to cry. He was the voice that I spoke when I had no words to say. My dependency on HIM was constant! I needed Him to breathe! But no matter how "bad" things got in my life I was constantly reminded that I still had more wealth and health than the majority of the people in my country.
When you have to depend on the Lord to provide the basic necessities of life- that's when you can really SEE Him work! I thank Him for the lessons that He's teaching me. And yes, I still have MUCH to learn. Our family has grown so much and learned so much and these are lessons that we NEEDED to learn. We have been recipients of way more blessings and gifts from the Lord than we ever could have dreamed.
One such gift came just over the past couple of weeks. When we moved out to Rainbow I learned quickly that I was the resident nurse of not only the orphanage...but also the community. My front porch has served as a make-shift medical clinic more times than I can count. Anything and everything from a saw slicing through a carpenter's hand, a hoe nearly chopping off a big toe, septic wounds that refuse to heal, and malnourished babies starving to death have been sent to my front porch. We all did what we could, but there were very little medical supplies here. With 53 children, nearly a dozen adults, and entire communities right around us I'm sure you can imagine all of the scrapes, bruises, cuts, and wounds that would need healing. We had a good bit of medicine that we had brought over for our own family's use. But that was quickly being gone through. So we prayed.
Within just a couple of weeks the Lord provided it all....and all on the same day! When the ConnectMed team left they had some leftover children's medicines that they donated to Rainbow. Children's Tylenol, children's Advil, Benadryl....all basic needs at an orphanage! We had only a couple of bottles of Tylenol and Benadryl and no Advil at all. Now we are completely set for months!!! Thank you, Lord! Perfect!
Then the very same day a box was delivered to Rainbow. It was mailed by a lady I've never met but apparently she's given medical supplies one time before. She sent a huge box of bandages, gauze, triple AB ointment, bandaids, ace wraps, ice packs, etc. My jaw was literally on the ground. I told Jeremy that if I'd had to make a list of the items that we needed the MOST here at Rainbow....that would be the exact list!!!! And I don't even know who the lady was who sent it. An angel? Yes! Does the Lord provide? Yes He does!!!!! I wasn't able to just run to town to pick up the medicines and medical supplies we needed like I would in the States. Nor did we have the funds to buy them. The Lord knew that. And He answered our prayer!
Yesterday I saw about 5 different patients on my porch. And I was thankful to have the supplies to help them. I try to remember to thank the Lord each time I bandage a wound, or give out a dose of medicine, for HIS provisions. It was a miracle in my eyes! Yes, my God is still in the miracle-making business! We've seen it over and over! When we have a need....He has a plan! He just wants you to ask!
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.- Phil 4:19
