God Woke Me Up

So there I was–sleeping.  It was my first night on safari in the Masai Mara of Kenya, five months ago in August 2012.  I had spent the last week at CURE International’s hospital in Kijabe, a city near Nairobi.  I don’t remember hearing a sound in or outside my tent, or being afraid at all; I simply woke up to “CURE Moms.”  The words were not audible–instead just sort of floating within my mind and heart.  It was almost three o’clock in the morning.

I wasn’t remotely groggy; rather, I felt a peaceful alertness.  For a while I lay in the dark absorbing the thoughts invading my mind, but then reached outside the mosquito net for my laptop.  I needed to start writing down the ideas I believed my heavenly Father was giving me.

T-shirts.  I could “see” a brown t-shirt with “CURE Moms” on the front.  The “M” was in a scripted font.  On the back was “Precious, Honored and Loved by God ~ Isaiah 43:4-5.”  These shirts–this new outreach for CURE International–would be for the mothers of the children at CURE’s hospitals around the world.

The last couple of days the eyes of my heart had been opened to the plight of these moms.  With children who looked different because of the way they were born or perhaps a fiery accident that occurred, these mothers had suffered terribly–emotionally and spiritually.  While their children had been mocked and treated as outcasts because of their appearance, so had they.  God must have punished them, cursed them… they must have sinned to have borne a child with deformities.  This message they were told from friends, family, strangers.  And this message–from the pit of hell–had bit by bit broken their lonely hearts into pieces, dissolving any sense of self-worth, and filling them with fear for their child’s future.

But that’s not how God thinks of them.  That’s not what He would want them to believe.  He had woken me up in the middle of the night and given me His message to them:  “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you…. Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:4-5).  THAT is what our heavenly Father thinks of those long-suffering moms.  That is TRUTH He wants them to know.  It is a love note to all of us–His children.  To you and me.

For the next two hours I wrote down everything I believed God was telling me.  I couldn’t wait to let the President of CURE Int’l know.  Maybe he wouldn’t think it was a big deal; maybe he would.  Either way, I felt it was my duty to relay the ideas.

About a week later, I received an email from CURE’s President.  I think he thought it was a big deal!

Five months later, I’m on an airplane returning home from the Dominican Republic… on behalf of “CURE Moms!”  Our team from the United States is currently small:  four mothers/grandmothers travelled to the DR to encourage fellow moms/grandmas, while four others stayed home and prayed.  But we have a very big God:  “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:8).  And yesterday I believe I watched the Spirit change a life!

Our team had gone to visit a young mom who’d been depressed about the condition of her son’s legs (pictured above).  He’d recently had surgery at CURE’s hospital, but the mother was still crying a lot and wouldn’t take her little boy into public.  She lives with her mother and grandmother (also pictured) who were assuming most of the care of the baby.

We explained the reason we had come to visit, and we listened to their story.  I read the passage from Isaiah–personalizing it for all three–and we gave them “CURE Moms” t-shirts.  We talked and laughed, and our two grandmas prayed.  CURE’s Spiritual Director for the Dominican Republic, Elba, was translating all the Spanish and English.

Towards the end of our time, Elba asked the young mom if she had a relationship with God.  She said yes, because her mother and grandmother did.  Elba explained God doesn’t have grandchildren… only children.  Salvation could not be gained through her mother’s or grandmother’s faith; God wanted to have a relationship with HER, and “Jesus was knocking at the door!” (see Revelation 3:20).  Elba had stopped translating for us, but I know enough Spanish to follow the conversation that was transpiring… I was watching with my own eyes the Spirit moving!  I cried as the sweet young mom accepted Jesus into her heart.  What a blessing it was to see her smile–the very beginning of a changed life!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!  Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).  “CURE Moms” is excited to see how and where the Spirit leads next!