Storytime

It's been another 'fly-by' kind of week... There has been a team here that I've been able to do some out-trips with in my spare afternoons, and I spent most of my weeknight evenings hanging around on the porch talking and listening to the rain, and also getting involved in some quite intense games of spoons! :)

Overall, there isn't really much to report on this week, but I've been saving a story in my back pocket that I've been meaning to share with you for a while. It's actually a clinic story, but I think you will enjoy it!

First, some background information: The story comes from a doctor (Dr. Rick) that worked alongside Dr. Cheryl a few weeks ago. He actually serves on the Mission of Hope board, and was here in Haiti for some meetings with the rest of the staff, but extended his stay for a few days to work at the clinic. On the day he was scheduled to depart, Cortney my cousin was flying in (he was actually boarding on the return flight that her plane was coming in for), so I ended up taking a vehicle into Port-au-Prince with him. The way it worked out, the flights were delayed so I spent a significant portion of my day out and about with him and Mr. Marc (the mission director) while we tried to pass the time. During the time of waiting, he shared many cool stories with me about his time with patients at the clinic and this is one of them...

On the day before he left, he was working in the clinic and a lady came in with an eye injury where there was a piece of material stuck in her eye. He worked very hard to remove the piece without causing too much pain, but quickly realized that he would need to magnify his vision to make sure he could get it out properly. So Dr. Rick asked a few of the clinic workers if there were any magnifying glasses that he could use. Unfortunately they had been misplaced at the moment, so he had to think of another solution. He had the idea to use a pair of reading glasses, and began a search. Much to his surprise, he ended up finding a whole box of donated glasses way back in one of the office drawers. So with a pair in hand, he returned to his patient and using the glasses to see more closely, he was able to remove all of the small pieces out of her eye and send her on her way. 

Now this is where it gets good.... The next patient in line was a lady who came in complaining about having bad headaches. As Dr. Rick began to ask questions about more of her symptoms, he began to understand that her headaches mostly occurred from reading, and slowly began to realize how the pieces of the puzzle were coming together... The glasses that were sitting on the desk, which he had just used as a tool to help his last patient, were now just what this lady needed. He took the glasses from the table and put them on the lady's face, and began to say how they might not be the exact prescription for her eyes but would be close, and then stopped. With a smile on his face he began again, this time telling the lady that they were most likely the perfect prescription for her eyes. After all, God had planned it.

As I listened to Dr. Rick talk I felt amazed and excited about that small miracle. Amazed at the way that the Lord had worked out every detail, from the magnifying glasses being missing so he had to find another tool to use, to the patient's being in line one after the other. Dr. Rick said that if the lady with the headaches would have come first, he probably would have had to send her away with nothing, because he was not aware that the clinic had glasses in stock until he needed a pair for his treatment with the eye injury. And it's true that we can believe that the Lord chose those glasses for that second patient, and the fact that they were probably the exact prescription that she needed.

I'm also excited about this story because I know that moments like this happen all the time at the clinic. It's not very often that I have 4 hours to kill with a doctor, so the chance I had to listen to all that he was a part of was really eye-opening for me, and I feel like I have even more of an appreciation now for what happens at the clinic. You can read through Laurens and Cheryl's blog more amazing stories about the Lord's provision and blessing. The clinic is a place where miracles happen!

It's reminds me of other areas in my life that don't always go the way I plan. Sometimes road blocks come up, like Dr. Rick not being able to find a proper magnifying glass, and it's easy in those moments to get discouraged and lose sight of the purpose behind it. But the truth is, the Lord had it planned out all along and without the little roadblocks, the miracle wouldn't be possible. It's a lesson that I can learn about patience and trust that the Lord always has the bigger picture... and He's got far more blessing planned than I realize!