I am feeling a little fluttery, wiggly baby moving in my belly and a smile is curving my cheek.
These past few months and weeks and days have been a jumble of craziness, but so our life has been for quite sometime, and now we realize that this craziness is our form of normal, and anything else would not seem right. Lots of people ask for an example of a normal day for us. Our answer is usually something like, "when we encounter a normal day we'll let you know."
Right now it looks a little like this: We wake up and I talk to my baby girl and reach out my hand to touch hers as she stands in her crib, but I have to wait for France to get her out as I am not allowed to pick her up. (Most of you know that I am four months pregnant, and about six weeks ago had a sudden uterine hemorrhage, was rushed to the hospital two hours away, and am now on bed-rest as I have now my second internal uterine hemorrhage, as well as contractions. The baby is doing wonderfully, the risk is high, and our God is great.) Next, France begins to make us both breakfast and then gets called to see a patient at our clinic next door. He passes Julia to one of staff at the clinic, or wears her in a front-pack as he sutures, or administers oxygen, or writes a prescription. I lay in my bed, praying over all these amazing people we have working with us, for my husband, for the great things God is allowing us to be a part of, and surrender to a will greater than my own, even as I am itching to be more of a part of things.
I talk with our staff girls, pray over struggles with them, and love them with everything in me.
My husband goes back and forth between clinics, doing Bible studies with our staff, who are growing more each day, leading a men's group with some local pastors, and seeing patients 24 hours a day at our clinic here in White Beach. In between, we have small teams from MAP come and stay with us on their way to and from the tribes. Each day we are seeing new life and growth, and miraculous transformations, in our patients and in our staff.
Before I became so horizontal, God began opening some incredibly exciting doors for us to build closer relationships with a lot of the women who are in the sex-slave industry in Sabang. I am forming a beautiful friendship with a Mamasan (Madame in charge of a prostitution house) named Cherry, a middle aged woman who really believes she is doing a good thing in being a "mama" to the girls in prostitution, not really seeing her role in using and selling their bodies and souls. She is broken and beautiful, right along with them. I had been going to visit about once a week, and as I would sit in the middle of the dusty plank floor, the girls would scoot off their beds and gather around me, and slowly share their stories and hearts. They would hold my hands as I prayed over them, masks slipping, and hot tears would trickle down young faces as they heard about a God who loves and sees them as beautiful.
Please pray for continued favor, as many of them are wanting to let us help them study so they can graduate and find a life outside this slavery. Pray that Cherry is changed and healed as well.
In the middle of all of this, we wait on our Great God for healing, ask that He miraculously holds this baby inside until the time is right,
and we trust. In Nahum 1 verse 7 God says this: "The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognizes, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him."
It does not say that He knows about us, or has heard of us, but He KNOWS us... has intimate understanding of who we are, and holds us up when trouble comes.
God has been taking care of us, and we are confident He will continue to, because His promises do not fail.
Joy in your journey today,
Francis, Leah, Julia, and Little One Daytec