In October of 2006, mid-way through our stay, I sat on the floor of the place where we were staying in Jos, Nigeria, and I looked at the 4 of us Americans sitting here. I was overwhelmed and scared and feeling sick to my stomach. The need here is so great and so many are depending on us to help them. I thought to myself, how? How is this all going to fall into place? How is God going to make this all happen through Chris and I and Jason and Emilee? I remember feeling so small and powerless and what was before us was so big. When we get back to the states there is so much work that needs to be done and in my sense of panic, I felt like there wasn’t much time. My mind was spinning with so many different thoughts. I knew right then that God was going to stretch our faith and we were going to grow and learn to depend on the Lord more than we have thought we would. With so many people here looking to us for help, part of me wanted to just turn around and go back and say forget it, it’s too much.
Later that week we were at the village telling everyone good-bye and we would be back soon. Word spread so quickly that we were there again, that by the time we were getting back into our car to go to the airport, we were informed that Ikira, the “agricultural guy” of the village of 1,000 people, contracted typhoid. Ikira showed us the village a few days before. He walked us around the place. We spent several hours with him and many of the villagers that day. Now, he was very sick and needed money for medicine. He thought if he could just let us know that he was sick that we would be able to help. Not really knowing what we could do at this point, one of the villagers that we asked to help us, got into the car with us and directed us to the medical facility where Ikira was staying.
We walked into the dirty ‘hut’ like building not really knowing what to expect. From the outside it looked like an old condemned building. It was dark and very small. My bathroom medicine cabinet probably had more in it than this place. There was a women sitting on a cot holding her very sick baby. Ikira was lying on another cot, hooked up to an IV. I remember thinking, “wow, they have IV’s in this place?” Once he saw us he sat up and smiled at us. He had hope. We really felt so helpless, but when he looked at us he had hope.
Looking back at that moment it all seems so clear to me now. It’s as if I am experiencing that moment all over again. HOPE. That’s what we bring to these people. How could I turn back and say “forget it?” God has a plan and that plan involves us. As we reach out our hand to help them, it’s really God’s hand reaching out. It was really God’s feet that walked into that medical building to check on Ikira, not mine. He reaches when we reach out and He steps when we step. God loves them (John 3:16) and has a plan of hope that involves Chris and I (and our boys). It involves everyone who will step up and give to this ministry. It’s in these moments that we have such an amazing opportunity to tell them how much our creator in heaven adores them and wants to have a relationship with them. Ever since that trip Chris and I have been amazed at “how” God is putting all of the pieces together. As I sat on that floor in Nigeria and wondered how, I sure didn’t know, but God did. I am so glad He has a plan. Chris and I are humbled that He has chosen us to be a part of it.
Now we are ready to start a whole new experience as we get ready to leave for Nigeria. This time it’s with my whole family. It’s a different dynamic this time. But, we are still offering the same thing; HOPE, through Christ.
