Time to pray

(Above: an iPhone picture of my favorite painting on the ship, it always reminds me to pray)

 

Wednesday the 28th is the patient screening day. We will see thousands of people and select many of our surgical candidates for the next 10 months. Even as I write this, there are potential patients out there- people we can help who have heard of the screening day and are desperate for hope. For these people it will take embracing the hope that someone might be able to help them, and also the risk of being disappointed, to gather the courage to come to the screening day. For someone who may have been living as an outcast for years it takes courage to come and stand in that line.

Please pray that those people would come! God knows the name of each person hiding from the world because of a tumor disfiguring their face. He knows every hurt of every woman who went into labor but was left with a lifeless baby and a humiliating physical condition- one that is accompanied by abandonment by her husband and family all too often. God knows every village with a mother cradling her little baby with a cleft palate- even though her family is telling her the child is cursed. These are the people we are here to serve, and it is our honor during these months to know them and have a small role in the story God is writing for each of their lives. The God I serve loves these people unimaginably! Please pray courage and peace over them as we meet them tomorrow.

During the screening day I will be working with the communications team taking pre-op photos for each patient who gets a yellow surgery card. One of the joys of working with mercy ships is the opportunities there are to help out with the gifts each of us has- and I am thrilled that my love of taking photos can be put to use for screening day.

(These signs give screening day information- the government has partnered with us in spreading the word and these posters and some large banners have been put up throughout the area)

 

Please pray for energy, wisdom in making decisions, safety as large crowds form, and good communication between crew members- months of work and planning have gone into making this day happen. And most of all please pray that we would represent Christ's love in a real and tangible way to each other and to the people of Congo.

Thank you friends!