(warning: medical content. If you are squeamish, you will want
to skip paragraph 4, though you will be missing out on a miracle)
Yesterday, Reda and I attended a very difficult birth. The laboring
teen was a first-time mom, and she was exhausted and scared. Her name was Aye
(Ah-Yay). She was fighting an infection and fever, and her labor wasn’t
progressing as it should. There was little we could do for her but support her
efforts and encourage her. But for every encouraging word or helpful instruction,
there were tenfold lies and discouragements being spoken to her by the other women
in attendance. When she wanted to rest between contractions, she was told that
she wasn’t trying hard enough. When she wanted to go outside and walk around a bit,
she was told to lay down and push. When she began vomiting, she was told that
she had brought it upon herself. When Reda and I returned from a short break to
eat a sandwich, we found the birthing room full of women, the laboring mother
forced into a birthing position and crying out in desperation. Her mother had
struck her, and she was being forced to push when it was not yet time. We
cleared out the room and tried to restore some peace to the situation. In spite
of all the turmoil, Aye was a model patient, listening to her body and doing
what she needed to do during labor, but instead of receiving support from the
other mothers around her, she was insulted and scolded. But she had a strong
will and did what she wanted to do, and she put her trust in us as we supported
her through an intensely difficult labor and birth.
At one point I told Aye to close her ears to the women who
were bothering her and to listen only to those of us who were trying to help.
She looked at me with trust in her eyes and nodded her head slightly. And she
did trust us, even in the midst of lies all around her.
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| Washing my clothes after yesterday's work |
This morning, when I had some time to reflect about
yesterday’s events, I realized the metaphor that God had created in that moment.
The Baka live in the midst of so many lies. There are superstitions, spiritual lies,
lies about health, sanitation, medication, and plain ol’ bad advice. Those of
us who work with the Baka have these things staring us in the face daily. The
reality of the devil’s deceit has dire consequences on the life and welfare of
the Baka. It affects the way they raise their children, how they gain their livelihood,
how they eat, how they worship, their health, and it even causes sickness and
death. Satan’s lies keep people from hearing the truth of the Gospel of Christ.
What will it take for them to close their
ears to the lies that they are bombarded with constantly and trust only the
truth that God is trying to speak into their hearts? Please pray with us that
God’s truth would be heard and trusted in the midst of abounding lies.
Aye delivered a baby girl at about 5pm yesterday, after
about 30 hours of labor. The baby was weak, covered in meconium (a sign that
she had been in distress in the womb), and required aggressive suctioning.
While we were working on baby, mom began bleeding. The placenta wasn’t
detaching, and the subsequent hemorrhage was threatening her life. While I
continued to attend to baby, Reda worked on mom. When baby was stable, I handed
her off to her great-grandmother, so that I could administer Pitocin to Aye.
The battle for her life continued until I asked Pe to come pray that the placenta
would be delivered and bleeding stopped. She prayed, everyone said ‘amen,’ and
the placenta was delivered, and the
bleeding did stop. Just like that. We
breathed a sigh of relief and gratitude to God, for He had just saved two
lives.
After God had given me some time to reflect and pray about the
lies that the Baka deal with daily, I came upon Psalm 58. It illustrates so
perfectly the deceit that Satan weaves around those who aren’t trusting in God.
But God is victorious! The righteous will receive the victory and the reward.
God is still the righteous judge. Let’s put our trust in Him alone!!
