Helpless

This evening was prayer rounds. Upon walking in to the OB ward, my prayer partner and I encountered immediate resistance. I tried to strike up a conversation with a mother who was taking care of her sick infant. She did not smile, barely acknowledged my presence and refused to talk to me. I continued my attempts and even went so far as to call the nurse over to care for the child's IV, but to no avail. The young mother in the bed next to her followed suite and also refused in the same rude, cold manner.

We then entered the women's ward and approached a new arrival. Her husband refused our prayer, demanding to know if we were Christian. When we replied to the affirmative, he nervously and forcefully demanded to speak to one of our hospital chaplains. The chaplain was called, but the man stated that even though he was also a Christian, he did not want our prayer because we did not worship the same God.

My first response was to feel threatened, then angry at their treatment of me. I was frustrated by their ignorance. For the first time I had a glimpse of what life must have been like for the disciples. I can not imagine trying again and again to share God with a people who shun these efforts with coolness and hostility.

I came home and prayed for them anyway.

After prayer rounds I was then informed that the young patient whom I wrote about in the previous entry (Overwhelmed) had developed yet another abcess in her arm. The situation seems truly hopeless. She is only 16 and dying very quickly. She is so frightened of evil spirits and witchcraft that she seems to have given up. She refuses to leave her bed, she no longer eats and is wasting away before our eyes on a daily basis.

So I do my best, changing her meds and securing appropriate therapies, but I can not even begin to touch the real source of the problem. This leaves me feeling helpless and impotent.

We have assured her that God protects this hospital and that He is more powerful than any evil spirit that might be sent to attack her, but what happens if she dies? The enemy wins? How do you prove the presence of an all powerful God when the family's greatest fear is validated, their belief in witchcraft seemingly justified?

I came home and prayed for her too.