I panicked. I should have known something was wrong.
All alone on my own in Africa, when everyone back home was fast asleep, tears streamed down my face.
I had come to offer myself. But just four days into my 6-week deployment to Eswatini, I knew I needed medical help.
But where? How? The thought of possibly needing procedural or even surgical intervention scared me.
“Can you fly back home?”
Tears. Aloneness wrapped itself like a cloak around me. But God’s light found it’s way through.
Just the day before, I had been connected to a medical missionary. Because of that, I could reach out to her.
While her hospital did not have the specialty I needed, her team prayed alongside me.
That night, all alone and unable to reach Cliff, with rain pouring and the clouds brooding over the low mountains, I felt the tangible presence of angels all around my room. Tears stopped. I was buoyed by prayer.
That night, I had a strange dream- Cliff and an Infectious Disease doctor-mentor of mine helped to mend my body. I woke up, feeling a strange peace. In the dream, shouldn’t it have been a surgeon? Was there a mistake?
That early morning, a doctor-mentor back home went through all the possibilities of temporary measures before surgery back home. My heart sank.
But I felt God say trust. To trust that He was in control.
Minutes later into the detailed teleconsult, she declared in epiphany, “Oh! We’ve got it all wrong! It’s an infection! You don’t need intervention!”
But where would I get the meds? Wouldn’t I need a prescription?
In a little hole of a pharmacy nearby, I found everything I needed. No prescription needed, even for meds that typically needed one back home. The dream was spot on. And I am on the mend.
A mentor shared with me: “The evil one is trying to distract you from His Kingdom work but he will not succeed.”
Another mentor shared with me: “Do you remember what Sarah-Faith had shared with you? That God told her He would look after her mummy in Africa?”
Today, I had several crucial back-to-back meetings with various key stakeholders, regional offices and officials. Had I been more ill, had I failed to get the right diagnosis from my mentor and ended up traveling miles away to the specialty clinic, had I failed to get the medication I needed, I would have missed this series of meetings that now shape my next five weeks moving forward and possibly, the timely development of a national strategy.
In your darkest times when you feel all alone, know this- the enemy wants you to abort your mission. He can’t wait to strike you. But no matter how high the stakes, God has you in the palm of His hand.
The safest place to be- is in the center of His Will.
*thank you to all our friends and family who have been upholding us in prayer, and offering your friendship, love and support to Cliff and our littles back home.