But God Did (5/19)

written by Sarah Reid

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. - 2 Corinthians 12:9

You are Christ's letter... written... with the Spirit of the Living God. - 2 Corinthians 3:3

Today (Monday) was a day ordained by God, who is a faithful Father, generously giving His children more than they could ask for or imagine. It was a little less than a year ago that God began planting a seed of an idea in my heart to use the knowledge and skills that I have as a speech-language pathologist, specifically working with children with cleft palate, in this beautiful country of Rwanda.

Recently, Operation Smile, Smile Train, and the Rwandan Ministry of Health have formed a partnership to provide surgical intervention for all Rwandans with unrepaired cleft lip and cleft palate, a first-time initiative of its kind in a "third world" or two-thirds world country. As an SLP (speech-language pathologist) on a cleft palate team at Wake Forest Baptist Health in North Carolina, I am one of the few SLPs who have the opportunity to work on a daily basis with these special children and their families, and the combination of a unique skill set and a love for Rwanda was one I couldn't help but to pay attention to. After sharing the idea with one of my former professors, we have been dreaming the last few months of establishing a partnership between the University of North Carolina Greensboro and this organization to provide yearly, in-person speech camps and monthly follow-up communication with Rwandan teachers or nurses who are willing to commit to help children facing this challenge.

Across-the-globe communication can present some significant challenges, so this morning it was with a sense of gutsy hope that my friends Michelle, Nadia, and I, along with our translator and good friend Joseph hopped in a car to drive unannounced and without known connections to the Rwamagana hospital where some of these cleft palate surgeries are performed. We, by all launching-program standards, were a little less than set up for success.

But God,
after a sweet time of prayer on the hospital lawn, made a way for us to find ourselves sitting and speaking directly with the hospital director. He listened to the program proposal, conveyed his support, expressed his interest in prioritizing training of Rwandans as a priority (partnership was the first of four values upheld by the proposed program), and informed us that one of the cleft palate surgical teams was here at the hospital on one of their two annual surgical mission trips. He followed this, however, with the comment that they had likely finished for the day and we would unfortunately be unable to meet them.

But God,
in the same minute he spoke those words, ordained an opening of the hospital director's door, and two gentlemen entered the room.

The ones we would be "unable" to meet.

The ones who, after exchanging brief introductions, exclaimed, "Where have you been? You are what we need and what has been missing in this program!"

And for the last five years I have been wondering why, in the best moments of my graduate school classes, the question I would continually ask myself between the lecture lines was "how does this apply in two-thirds of the world?" while I am still living and working in a nice city in a country with abundant resources doing a job and living a life I truly enjoy.

But God,
today, brought tears to my eyes with His loving kindness. To give this daughter of His a glimpse of His faithfulness and the beauty in living a day and a life of days wanting to bring glory to Him, the One who knits together, the One who loves and saves, redeems and restores, sustains and provides, and invites us into Life with Him. A day ordained by a God who guides steps and works together His plan for the good of those who love Him. A day of meeting surgeons who are servants, meeting patients who are hopeful and thankful for the help given to them. It was a day that I, in my usual preparedness, could not plan or even conceive.

But God did.

And I am thankful to be His daughter, living as part of His family, because of the death and resurrection of His Son. I want to be part of this story that He is writing, of loving God and loving my neighbor, of making disciples and being continually transformed to be more like Christ, being willing to be a healing and compassionate touch to the hurting.

Father, we thank you for the gift of Your Son, for Jesus who is our brother and makes us family. Would You make our lives Christ's letter, written with the very Spirit of the Living God.