Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Missionary (10/19/06)
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TITLE: Strength in Weakness | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
10/21/06 -
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The following day, she sat in the waiting room of yet another doctor’s office, and smiled at a youngster playing there. This reminded her of the far-away orphans she wished to help and she offered up a silent petition for that to become possible. She then struck up a conversation with his mother, who was very ill, and mentally added this problem to her prayer list. Later, as she was leaving the building, Beth placed a spiritual helps booklet on a table, hoping that it would fall into needy hands.
As she stood in line at her pharmacy a few minutes later, a young man, twin toddlers in tow, walked in. The children were lethargic and feverish, so Beth offered them her place in line. These sweet babies looked so like the ones she wanted to help thousands of miles away; and she repeated her plea for healing.
Arriving home, Beth’s phone was ringing--her friend, Liz, who was going through a divorce, asked if Beth would pick up the kids from school later that day while their mother was required to meet with her lawyer. She enjoyed taking Liz’s little ones to the park after school, listening to their chatter. The healthy glow of their cherub faces contrasted sharply with the sad, emaciated countenances of orphans she wanted to assist and again, she prayed about it.
Taking her charges back to Liz at the appointed time, Beth then returned home to rest. Abruptly, she was startled by the doorbell. A Little League ball-player was selling candy, and even though she was unable to tolerate chocolate, Beth purchased some from the lad, watching with delight as his face lit up. As he scampered away, Beth imagined in his place, a tattered-clad child who was leaving the missionary compound with some much-needed medicine, and she prayed that God would fill her heart’s yearning.
That same evening, Beth wrote an encouragement card to a neighbor who was recovering from surgery and another to someone whose dog had died. This triggered a memory of the orphanage, where animals weren’t allowed because of diseases they often carried, and Beth cried out to the Lord anew for healing so she could be their comfort.
In the middle of that night, Beth was awakened by familiar pain that surged throughout her body. She downed her pain medication and while waiting for it to take effect, she read a passage of Scripture and prayed for her many acquaintances. Falling back asleep, she had a vivid dream, almost like a vision:
Beth, with pain-free and healthy body, was standing over an orphan child’s bed in a foreign country. Instead of a diseased and destitute child, the occupant of the bed was a young mother whose youngster was playing nearby. Smiling, they thanked her for showing them love. Amazed, Beth turned to the next bed where sat a stranger, intently reading a pamphlet with tears in his eyes . . . the following bed held a father with two toddlers, smiling and energetic, thanking her for her kindness . . . across the aisle was a larger bed where sat Liz and her three children who, although they appeared sad, perked up at her gaze, momentarily forgetting about their problems . . . next to them, on a small cot, a little boy in a baseball uniform was happily tossing a chocolate ball into a brand new mitt. Beth, astonished, then glanced over the entire room. Occupied beds held familiar faces of those she had prayed for, sent notes to, or touched in some way. Other beds were empty, awaiting needy future patients, as previous ones had been healed and discharged.
As Beth awoke from this puzzling dream, a still, small voice whispered, “In as much as you have done these things unto the least of these . . . you have done them unto Me”. Enlightened, she then realized that God could work through her weakness right where she was as well as in her strength in another country.
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