Thursday, January 11, 2007
I heard a true story from the life of veteran missionary, Helen Roseveare, and it touched me deeply, and it reminded me of why I face some huge needs with perfect peace. I though it might be the encouragement you need today. Helen was a medical missionary to Zaire, and she tells about the night she had tried to save a mother in the labor ward. In spite of all their efforts, the mother died, leaving the missionaries with a crying two-year-old daughter and a tiny, premature baby. They had no incubator. They had no electricity to run an incubator, and they had no special feeding facilities. And even though they lived on the equator, the nights were often chilly. They wrapped the baby in cotton wool, they put him in box, and they stoked up a fire. They really needed a hot water bottle for the tiny newborn, but they discovered that the last one they had was burst and there was nowhere to get one. So they put the baby as near the fire as they could safely and they hoped it would be enough. It was a touch-and-go fight for that little life. And then came the little girl's prayer.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Proven Provider."
The next day, Helen, the missionary, had prayers with the orphanage children. She explained the problem of keeping the baby warm enough; mentioning the need for a hot water bottle. She also told the children about the two-year-old sister who was crying because her mother died. That's when ten-year-old Ruth started talking to God.
She prayed, "Please, God, send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, because the baby will be dead. So please send it this afternoon. And while you're at it, would you please send me a dolly for the little girl so she'll know you really love her?" Inwardly, the missionary was struggling even to honestly say "amen" to that prayer. After all, the only way God could answer such a pointed prayer would be by sending her a parcel from her homeland in England. And she had been in Africa for almost four years, and she'd never received a parcel from home! Besides, who would send a hot water bottle to someone living on the equator!
Well, that afternoon, a large, 22-pound parcel arrived on Helen's doorstep. Tears came to her eyes. She asked the orphanage children to help her unwrap and unpack the package. Thirty or 40 pairs of eyes were focused on this large cardboard box. The missionary lifted out some brightly colored jerseys, which she gave out to the excited children. Then the kids looked a little bored as she pulled out the knitted bandages for the leprosy patient. Then came a box of raisins. Then, as Helen put her hand in again, she felt - well, she had to pull it out to believe it. It was a brand new (you guessed it) hot water bottle! Helen later said, "I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed He could."
Ruth, the little African girl with the bold prayer, rushed forward and she said, "Well, if God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!" And He did. At the bottom of the box was a beautifully dressed dolly. The parcel had been on the way for five months! It had been packed by Helen's former Sunday School class, whose leader just obeyed a prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. Oh, yes, and a dolly. Five months before, God had provided the answer to the believing prayer of a 10-year-old girl to bring it in that afternoon.
Whatever you're facing right now, that is the God you belong to. That's the God who provides every need for you in the most amazing ways! Would you relax in His proven provision and in the promise of this word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 65:24, "Before they call, I will answer."