Power of Prayer

I was reading my Aunt's blog when I came across this story. The power and blessings of prayer have really been on my mind a lot lately. This story seemed to perfectly describe what I've been feeling.

This story was written by a doctor who worked in Central Africa .

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates).'And it is our last hot water bottle!' she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

'All right,' I said, 'put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.'

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. 'Please, God' she prayed, 'Send us a hot water bottle today. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.'While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, 'And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?'As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say 'Amen'? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the porch was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly... excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the...could it really be?I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!'Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?'' Of course,' I replied!

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon'.

The happenings of 2009 til June

So, I created my blog last November because I was an avid follower of the blog "Seriously So Blessed" plus I thought it would be cool to have my own online journal. Well, it's now June of 2009 and I haven't made one post... not ONE!

Here's my first official post of the Gab - Fest blog.

I'm in nursing school at Westminster College... it has proven pretty difficult, but I enjoy the challenge. I will be starting my second semester in a couple of months. Luckily, as the semesters move on, we are getting more and depth and more specific to the departments of the hospital. For instance... This fall I will be studying Geriatrics [the elderly population] and the traditional Med/Surge nursing. So STRESSFUL, but lots of fun and worth it in the long run :)

Also, some other exciting news... My parents have bought a house! We used to be living with my Mom's parents. They haven't been doing well over the last year so we were staying with them and also waiting for the inflated housing market of Utah to settle down. Finally.. an answer to our prayers! They found a cute Spanish Colonial bungalow on Yale Ave right around the corner from our current location. The house really is darling and will only need a couple renovations [another plus!].


Summer, so far, has been filled with lots of fun. I got to go to Colorado to see my new cousin Jacob Paul Spear be blessed. Being able to see family and catch up was a good way to kick off the summer... It's so fun to have a new baby in the family! Congrats to Paul & Mary! :) I also had the opportunity to go to Chicago with Jena and see the big city.. I had kind of forgotten the city life so it was fun to see all the sites and be at least [a little] closer to the east. Finally, at the beginning of June, I got to go to Lake Powell with the Duncan family! It was my first time ever in Lake Powell.. I think I can now consider myself a true Utahn... Okay, maybe not. BUT I learned how to water ski and wakeboard! I also overcame my fear of cliff jumping and took a jump off of a [20 foot] cliff! The weather was pretty decent, but we did have one bad day where there were 60 mph gusts [!]. A boat even capsized in the middle of the lake. We stayed over by cookie jar and got to tour some Canyons [East and Face, I think]. The boys got to do some bass fishing and the family had fun doing some crazy tubing! It was really cute to watch Austin, Taylor's 4 yo nephew learn how to water ski.. I was jealous! He even went knee-boarding.. what a good sport!

As a result of the above paragraph, I will probably not be taking any more extended vacations from work. I pretty much crammed all my summer fun into those 3 vacays! Definitely worth it, though! Now, it's just working and online schooling for me! I'm hoping to teach myself a piano piece to perform in church, too... Fantasy in D minor by Mozart. Anddd waiting to hear back from Primary Children's hospital.. I'm trying to set up a gig where I can go volunteer in the Emergency Department there.. Pretty exciting. Oh, and last but DEFINITELY not least.. I'm really happy to spend the rest of the summer with Tay! :)

3 days til I'm 20!!