Enough for God’s Grace to Break Through
By Sarah H., missionary in Ecuador
Around November, we started a new apostolate visiting the cancer patients in the children’s hospital in Guayaquil. I have learned a whole lot about entrusting the Lord with our intentions and our loved ones even if we don’t know the outcome. Almost each time we visited, Adriana and I would visit a little 4-year-old girl who had a brain tumor. She was almost blind and sometimes would be crying or frightened by the noise of the hospital. Other times, she would be calmer and ask for a lollipop. Our last visit to the hospital, Adriana had brought a lollipop for this little girl, but she was nowhere to be found. When we asked the nurses, they explained that they didn’t know where she was, and we were left without any concrete answer. That same day, we were visiting another patient when a woman came in. She was a young, single mom who had been sleeping on the uncomfortable chair or floor of the hospital far from her family (like the majority of the parents in the hospital) who had just received the sad news that her daughter’s cancer had once again spread, this time to her lungs. Because her daughter’s leg had already been amputated, the mom helped her to the bathroom, closed the door, and out of sight of her daughter, started to cry as we received her in a hug. We couldn’t do much, but listened to her, played with her daughter, and interceded for them in the moment and afterward.
Encouraging her not to lose hope, we continued our journey a couple doors down where we visited another mom and her daughter. This little 7-year-old had severe developmental disabilities alongside undergoing cancer treatment to the point where you would think she was only three because of her little stature and frailty. Her mom knew it was not likely that her daughter would live to adulthood, and yet told us that she knew that if it was God’s Will, He could cure her with a miracle. Wow. We closed our visit with a couple prayers, offering what we could, yet receiving so much more in return. I had goosebumps at the faith and radical love I had witnessed not only in this mom, but all the parents who accompany their children through such difficult moments.
It is hard not to know the outcome of each of these circumstances, but I think it’s a good summary of the mission. Oftentimes, we don’t get to see all the physical changes that occur, but we can see clearly that the Lord’s Presence is incredibly evident in every moment, the good and the hard. For me, I especially saw His presence in these mothers that give everything for their children yet also in the friends of our neighborhood. There is a quote I love by Catherine de Hueck Doherty that says “We do not go to mission lands so much to ‘bring Jesus Christ’ as to uncover Him where He already is.” How true! We are only physically present to our friends here in Ecuador for a relatively short amount of time, but even a single encounter that leads us to pray for someone is enough for God’s grace to break through. I may not be able to see all the answers or all the fruits of our mission here, but God does. I may not be able to see all the healings that take place in that hospital or all the sufferings so graciously borne, but God does. I may not be able to see how the hearts of our friends have changed in the short time I’ve been here in Latin America, but God does. And, as for me, I have seen how he has changed my own heart to fall more deeply in love with the One who is Love Himself.