God's Purpose

As many of you know, we start each Monday morning at the hospital with a time of devotion that is led by one of the staff.  This month it's been Dr Javier Alcocer.  Javi is a good friend of ours and someone who takes call for us at the hospital from time to time.  This month he's been talking about sin and how it relates to our health.

Today he read from John and relayed a story that reminded me so much of an encounter that I had while in Haiti in December of 2010.  In John 9:1-12, John recounts how Jesus healed a blind man by making a 'dressing' for his eyes with dirt and some of his saliva and telling him to wash in the Pool of Siloam.  What had been asked of Jesus was why this man had been born blind.  It reads:

"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus,"but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. . ."

Javi then related how he'd been on call one evening when an elderly lady had come to our ER to be seen.  She was blind, depressed, and suffered from many medical problems including diabetes and hypertension,  To top it all off, she had been in a wheelchair for the last several years.  Javi asked her what he could do for her and she stated that she needed something to help her sleep.  Javi looked through her chart and saw that she had tried on a number of medications without help.  After spending more time with her he soon discovered that she was burdened about her family and their salvation as she was the only believer in her family.  Javi spent some time in prayer with her and gently suggested  that God may have burdened her with her illness and immobility to be able to witness to her family in a way that on one could.  She and her family lived in a remote area and were unable to attend any kind of church.  She began to understand all of this and left with a new found purpose.  What Javi was able to do was show how God had a purpose for her illness.

As many of you know, I spent 2 weeks in Haiti in December of 2010 as part of a small team from HCJB sent to assist Samaritan's Purse.  There'd been a major cholera outbreak that was ravaging much of the country following the earthquake from the previous year.  During one of our late night shifts, a little 4 year old girl came in with her parents with worsening cholera symptoms.  After many failed attempts we were finally able to gain IV access, however, she died anyway.  It was a very difficult experience for many of us.  After that shift, we all returned to our quarters tired and disillusioned wondering why this one little girl wasn't saved when others in much worse state had gotten better.  Later that evening we discovered that a team from Samaritan's Purse had gone by the little girl's home to pray with the family.  What resulted from that encounter was a profession of faith from her parents and 11 other family members!  What God had done was to use the death of this little girl to bring her entire family and many of her extended family into His fold.  We rejoiced as a team for not only their salvation but also for God allowing us a small glimpse into His purpose.  As we all know, we are often still left with the 'Why' and must trust our faith that He's in control.

What Javi did was remind me, once again, that God is always with us and always using circmuunstances in our lives for His great purpose.

Joe