“I” is one of my favorite people. She is quiet and unassuming but is a mighty woman of God. I first met her as a translator during my missions training program in 2011. We didn’t talk much, but she seemed like a lovely person. Then I was blessed to be her midwife for her last child’s birth. It was a cold night and she labored well, giving birth to a perfect baby boy. Then she asked me to name him. David -it seemed fitting to call him as a man after God’s heart.
In the following months she came to Bible study with a timid smile and a beautiful voice to help us lead worship. One day we had a group of people visiting the area for a meeting, and they asked to join up with our ladies Bible study. After hearing of the love of God, available to all, many were saved. “I” helped us close out the meeting in songs of praise, and then she walked home. Her 6 month old baby tied to her back in the traditional fabric chitengie.
The next morning I arrived at the clinic for prenatal checkups. I went on a search for the scale that we all share, and was stunned to find the next room covered in blood. First of all: what happened? It was an incredible amount of blood for our clinic to see such trauma (we are more equipped to deal with upper respiratory infections, diarrhea and malaria). And second of all, why did no one clean it up?!?!?! There was blood all over the bed, the wall, the floor.
As I looked for answers, our security guard told me the story. Someone was stabbed with a knife, had been taken to the hospital, and was not expected to survive. The pronouns in his story got a little mixed up and so when he told me that I knew the person who had been stabbed I was expecting it to be one of the guys that works on the base that perhaps had gotten into a bar fight. No, you delivered her baby. What?!?! Finally we got it sorted out that it was “I”. Through spotty cell service I was able to send a message back to the missionaries on the base to start praying.
Later as the story was clarified, we found our that “I” has a brother that is mentally unstable, probably demon possessed. He often wonders in the bush for weeks at a time and is essentially homeless. He had arrived at “I’s” house hungry and a bit agitated as “I” got home from Bible study. He saw her chicken and wanted to eat it, but “I” told him she would make him something else to eat. In a fit of rage, he picked up the knife and began to chase her, stabbing her in the back and side.
Miraculously, “I” had just taken the baby off her back seconds before she was attacked. She was taken to the hospital by local transportation and again miraculously survived a tension pneumothorax and chest tube placement at the government hospital. She describes the experience as filled with peace and the presence of God. I’ve spent some time at the hospital – it surely was a miracle that she felt peace in that place as God spared her life.
Her recovery, understandably took some days, but soon she was back to Bible study. Her brother was arrested and put in jail. Two years later she continues to share testimony after testimony of how God saved her life, and brought peace to her fears and purpose to her life. Last month when her brother was to be released from jail, we surrounded her with prayers for protection and peace to fill her heart and mind. He would be going back to her sister’s house which was about 1.5 hours walk away.
Last week at our Christmas party, we took some time to reflect and look back on the promises of God and how He has answered prayer. “I” wanted to share a testimony. She said that after we prayed for her she no longer feared her brother. And then she was reminded of what we have been studying in the book of Acts. After Saul’s encounter with God on the road, which left him blind, he was taken to the house of Judas. God showed Ananias in a vision that he was to go pray for Saul. Ananias was obviously hesitant to go see Saul because Saul had been persecuting and killing Christians. But God says, Go! Saul is my chosen instrument to take the Gospel to all mankind. And in obedience, Ananias goes and calls Saul his brother, praying for him and God removes the scales of blindness. In a great act of faith and forgiveness, Ananias declares over Saul that he will no longer he called a murderer, but chooses to see him in the same way that God does. Forgiven, called and set apart for ministry. After studying these verses, “I” says that she went to see the man who had tried to kill her, and she chose to forgive him, and that she called him her brother. Then they sat and talked.
We rejoice in God’s faithfulness to bring healing and reconciliation to this family. I am honored to have such a strong, beautiful woman as my friend.
Every minute of every day... 