Trust

I knew coming to Burkina Faso I would face experiences that would affect me in ways I can’t quite explain; experiences that simply aren’t done justice by my words or explanations. Simply put i'm at a loss for how to put things a lot of the time...

In a recent blog entry I asked you to pray for three babies. Salif returned back to the orphanage on April 29. He is healthy and looking very happy. Jules returned home just last night. I haven`t heard his official weight but I can tell you his cheeks look a little chubby. Pray for his health as he needs to continue to gain and keep on weight. He is now a year old.

Rosaline passed away April 30. She came to us very small and had been recieving treatment at the orphanage for a week or so before we sent her to the hospitall. She then spent three weeks at the hospital in Ouahigouya before the sickness became too much for her little body.

One of our staff members gave Liz and me the news. After speaking with him I returned to the house. I took some time to let myself cry. I prayed a simple prayer and in a moment of silence I had a profound sense of peace because I felt the lord say ``She is home with me”. I am not saying I don`t feel sadness about her death but I feel peace. For a reason unbeknownst to me God called Rosaline home to Him. I will probably never understand why He called her home, but God has not asked me to understand His reasons he has only asked me to trust in Him.

The day after her death Rosaline`s father and 2 uncles came to visit us at the orphanage. (Rosaline had been placed with us temporarily after her mother’s death and would have returned home once she was a year old.)The father and uncles live in a village 35km away from Yako. They rode their bikes in 45degree heat to the orphanage. The purpose of the visit was for them to give us their condolences and thank us for what we had done for their child. I can`t tell how the gentleness of their action struck a chord in my heart.

I had been praying through some of the prayers written by Lancelot Andrews through the month of April. I went back to this one that day and I have gone back and prayed through it several times since. Remember the Lonely:

Remember, Lord, all the infants, the children, the youth, the middle-aged and the elderly who are hungry, sick, thirsty, naked, captive or friendless in this world. Be with those who are tempted with suicide, who are sick in soul, who are in despair. Remember those who are in prison, all those who are under sentence of death. Remember the widows and the widowers, the orphans and those who travel in a foreign land. Remember all those who this day will work under oppressive conditions. Remember the lonely.