Still with the assumption that I would be leaving on March 1st for the bush for 7 weeks, I asked the doctor for enough pain medication for 2 months. The doctor obliged but does not believe that he will need the medication for that long.
We're now postponing our trip for a month. My village parents are happy about that as they are still not back in the village.
However, if he passes before we arrive, not only will we not be there to mourn with them, but the building of our house will come to a screeching halt and, with it, progress in our ministry. There's no telling how long the mourning period will extend or it's long term affects. I want to be with my village mama during her loss and there's no telling how much worry our unfinished house will put on her.
It seems like such a selfish thing to worry about, our house being finished. But it's our house that will enable us to live in the village among these people who God loves. Our ministry model is one of incarnational ministry. We want to laugh with them, we want to cry with them, we want to model Jesus for them.
While I'm anguished over the impending loss of a translator and a good man, I trust the Lord's timing and I know His goals. They, like Him, have been the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's all about His glory. This is an opportunity to glorify God.
If the Lord sees that He would be better glorified through a miraculous healing, then we want to let the Mum see God being glorified despite the cultural norm of battling sickness with evil spirits. We pray that my village papa will be strong enough to reject cultural norms, to reject peer pressure, to endure the pain, and to seek only the Great Physician.
If the Lord sees that He would be better glorified through his passing, then we want to let the Mum see God being glorified despite the cultural norm of retaliation. We pray that my village papa stays strong and praises God until his last breath and that his family stands firm and strong after he's gone. Strong enough to defy those who would want to use his body or other means of sorcery to find someone to blame for his death and retaliate in kind. Strong enough to speak against sorcery and advocate forgiveness (it's a pretty deeply ingrained belief that a sickness is caused by conflict or a magical attack. If we can't convince them otherwise, then we can convince them we should respond with forgiveness and not retaliation.)
Please pray that the Lord would be glorified.
When we commit our lives to the Lord, we commit our whole lives.
The Lord has chosen this servant to glorify Him. Whether it's through suffering only to be healed or through suffering until he's by the side of his Savior, we pray for him to have the strength to finish the race.
And we pray that the Mum will see a counter-cultural response to death and be moved to the embrace of God.
Please pray with us.
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