Christina Huffman
Feb 1, 2023
Nursing is a window to share about the True Healer, and it’s neat when God gives those opportunities in-clinic!
One of the neatest experiences to me was sharing the gospel with a single mom I met while interpreting on the second day of clinic.
After the first day of clinic with few medical supplies due to baggage delays, we had prayerfully been awaiting news of any medical bag arrivals at the airport.
Once we heard the bags had arrived, we began setting up the clinic to function accordingly. I found a provider to interpret for and started preparing my station. However, as the day began, I wound up interpreting for several different people depending on where the greatest need was due to the patient/interpreter ratio. Around the early afternoon I got asked by a provider if I could go speak with a girl a little younger than me and let her know that two different pregnancy tests came back positive. I was quickly informed that the patient would not be happy with the news and a little of her history. Once I shared with her the news, she immediately began the denial phase and did not want anyone to console her or give her further help. She denied an ultrasound, but we wanted her to at least meet the national pastor’s wife so that she would have a contact in the country once we left.
Once the pastor’s wife got there, I got pulled to a different direction to interpret and honestly didn’t know if I would be able to talk to her again. However, about an hour later, I was told she had accepted to hear the baby’s heartbeat through a doppler, and was asked if I could find out information of a local woman’s clinic where she could continue her prenatal care. Once I found the local doctor I went with him to have a conversation with this young lady.
Through our conversation with her she told us that she felt like her only two options were abortion or suicide. She already had a son with a different father, and her own father was not speaking with her due to her last pregnancy. Her father had also scared her with consequences that would come if she got pregnant again.
Hearing her talk was extremely heartbreaking, and I didn’t know where to start. But God. He gave me the words to say as I shared with her how precious her baby’s life was to God and how valuable her own life was. I told her about our heavenly Father who loves her and sees her even in a situation where all she feels and sees is despair. At the end of the conversation, she decided to keep her baby for now and agreed to allow the local pastor’s wife to stay in contact with her and help her find ways to care for herself and her baby.
Pray for her and her unborn baby. She is a real soul with real needs.
I cried on my way back to the hotel that day. The real sorrow and fear she felt were devastating and the desire to do more was heavy on my heart.
That evening I was reminded , through the story of the lady with the bleeding disorder in Luke 8:43-48, that God sees us. God cares for the least of these, and just like his care and love for that rejected woman so long ago, I could be sure that God loves and sees a 20-year-old girl who feels unseen, lost, and without hope. My God can do so much more for her than I ever could.
For the clinic days that we can't solve every physical problem for our patients, it is amazing to have the opportunity of sharing the one Who can heal our hearts!
The Gospel isn’t just real on a missions trip, but should be real in our daily lives. Whether we are in Africa or America, Asia or Brazil, we have the same God who is loving, persistant, forgiving, and inviting.