I am feeling a lot of emotions today so I don`t know if it is a good idea or not to write but actually I have found that my best writing comes from being stirred in this way!
It has been a big work week for me! I have worked 12hr days last weekend and then 3 x 10hr nights the rest of the week and now I am at a time of rest! Last weekend was a fantastic weekend on the ward hanging out with the beautiful VVF ladies! I love it so much! I can`t express how happy I am when I work with these ladies! It makes me feel alive! I feel like I am doing what I was created to do when I am with them! They are beautiful but also sometimes demanding as they get closer to the end of their time with us! 2 weeks is a long time to be kept in a tin box with no windows! They do craft until they are sick of it! They are so talented at things like crocheting and knitting! I can`t knit to save myself! They have also seen as much Jesus film`s and biblical stories on dvd as could possibly be watched! Sometimes they are just plain restless! We take them all up on deck (if they are well enough) via the stock elevator! It is a feat getting them all up there in 5 person loads then they sit and watch the boats in the port and look at the crew walking down on the dock! It is such a strange environment for anyone!
Some of the girls are as young as 17 and others as old as 50-60yrs but they are united in their suffering!.
My friend Chris who was my favourite patient in Ghana has moved to Liberia. She was a Liberian refugee living in a IDP camp (internally displaced persons) she was taken to Ghana when she was running away from the war as a 16yr old. She was fleeing the rebels when she went into labour. Her story is horrific and I love her too much to share it in a blog, She is now here in Liberia and she came for another surgery 2 weeks ago!. I prayed and was troubled because I didn`t want to see her suffer again. In Ghana she had many surgeries and she got sick and infections each time so it worried me!. I had to pray against the fear I had! I did believe that God would heal her in His perfect time however that was meant to be!. So she had her surgery and spent 2 weeks on the ward and yesterday was her dress ceremony!. She of course was beautiful! She didn`t share much but she told of God being faithful! and I realised the power of words! She said "Sister Sarah told me that the day would come when I would be healed and now I am" I know I said this but part of me said it in just hope not in faith! But she held onto those words!
Chris turns 23 this month and we are going to have a party on the beach she says! She wants to get "new hair" as every african girl loves to do (they get braids with hair extensions). I asked her what she wanted for her birthday from me and she told me the next day that she wants money to go and buy new clothes! She is coming to work on the ship as a dayworker! She has an amazing "adoptive" mother Sheri who loves on her as one of her own!
I am excited to spend this birthday with her dancing on the beach in Liberia as 2 years ago we spent it in the refugee camp in Ghana when she turned 21! When I think of my 21st bday with my castle bday cake and all the amazing gifts I wish I could have given it all to her! She was happy and excited to have her own room with a mattress!
I look at the future for her and I see that the Lord really has used people to significantly impact her life and change her destiny!
He has given her a hope and a future and she will grab it with both hands! I said to someone yesterday that she is story that no one could make up! There is even more to this story but it is not mine to tell!
"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
