Patience for a miracle

The following blog was written by my co-laborer Susy Horta. Some of you have been praying for these patients for a while now. Now you can put some faces with the stories.  Pictures by Mercy Ship photographers.

Patience for a miracle

During my time here, most of our maxillofacial patients come the day before of their surgery, go to surgery, and after a couple of days or maybe a week they are ready to go to the Hope Center and come to the ship for their follow-up appointments. A few of them may have complications after their surgery, maybe a wound that won't heal properly, maybe an infection, but thankfully those are a few exceptions to the majority.

These are the stories we like to witness and also the way we want things to happen in our own lives. We like things to happen as they "should", in the right time and in the right way.

I, personally, am not a patient person. As an ICU nurse I always want to find a way to solve problems, and keeping things under control, planned and successful is my way of thinking of a good day.

 But today I want to share about two families that have taught me what patience and endurance are. The moms share the same name, both are muslim, and speak the same native language. They both have beautiful baby girls and these babies have been our patients at the hospital and the Hope Center since before I came to Cameroon, that is, more than 5 months.

One of the babies, Mass-oudatou, has been in the infant feeding program since she

arrived to the ship, and her cleft lip was repaired after she had enough weight to go through surgery. But, she needed her cleft palate to be repaired too, but for that she had to be big enough, as it was a more risky surgery than the first one. During the months of feeding her to be ready, her suctioning ability decreased and that brought respiratory problems, so we ended up having to help her by feeding her through a nasogastric tube. 

She is funny and makes the weirdest and cutest faces all day long. Her surgery was finally done last friday; after months of waiting and struggling, she finally will breath, eat and talk normally.

The other baby is Mairamou. She is one of a kind. Sassy, smart, brave and with a mass on
her face that could not just be cut away. As tiny as she is, removing the mass would mean a huge blood loss, and her life. So she has been also through months of nutritional suplements to gain weight, medications and radio ablations to shrink the mass as much as possible. In the beginning of her treatment, the mass was so big that we also needed a tube to feed her. And finally, two weeks ago, she went to surgery (no pictures yet) and it went really well!!

As you can see, these are not fast and easy cases. These kids have won our hearts while they wait to finally go to surgery. And their moms have waited too.

I am sure that during these long months the moms have had hard days, but every time I see them, either in the hospital or at the Hope Center, they smile. They have been learning french and english at the same time. They help other mothers and patients to adjust while they stay with us. They call me "momma Susy" and "Tauntine Susy" (auntie Susy). They get tired, it is hard to stay in a hospital for weeks and weeks, but they don't complain. They let us see when they are sad, they let us comfort them and they let us help them. 

They are smarter than me, more patient, braver, they learn, they wait, they laugh, they endure. They love me. They make me laugh. These are not weak and sad souls, these are people with less opportunities than us. And that is why I’m here. To bring hope and healing through health care, but also with friendship and the gospel. I can’t feel sorry for them, they won’t let me. I admire them and want to help in any way I can to bring them closer to Jesus and the life He wants for them.

But God has used their lives to challenge me to be braver and to exercise my patience. I have been praying for months for the funds to continue serving with Mercy Ships until June/2019, and He has been taking His time to answer. I have had very hard days praying and not seeing any answers. God has been challenging my faith. How do you have faith and joy when there is a possibility of losing your dream job/ministry? 

Well, these moms have taught me to enjoy the waiting and also to believe in the one that promised me "plans for a hope and a future". These moms trust us, they trust the surgeons, they trust the dietitians, they trust our local translators. They have seen how much we care for them and their babies, so they trust that we will keep doing our best to help them. 

How much do I trust God? The one that gave His only Son to save my life? The one that has provided for my parents for more than 30 years? The one that brought me here and has sustained me for five months? The one that says "I will never fail you nor abandon you"?

Donations have started coming, quietly and full of love. And with each one of them, I cry with joy and gratefulness, and I pray harder. I pray harder to see the whole miracle happen. 

What are you waiting and praying for? Are you tired and about to give up? Don't do it, your dreams are worth the wait, God is worth the wait.

Also, what miracle are you helping to come to life? I have been part of these babies' miracles and it has been an enormous honor, that is why I chose to serve longer with Mercy Ships, to be an active witness of the miracles God wants to bring to West Africa. Would you be part of these miracles with me?

"You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; 

I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah." Psalm 81:7 NLT