I hope you all had a great weekend celebrating with family and/or friends and were able to indulge in some pumpkin pie. Maybe even with vanilla ice cream. Mmmm.
Life has been pretty great over here on the other side of the world. Us few Canadians (plus the other Americanos!)cooked up some traditional-ish food and we enjoyed a meal together with the Abundant family. It's hard to be away from home during holidays, but I am so thankful for the laughter and hilarity that fills my home here. It makes everything much easier.
A constant theme in my life over the past 6 weeks has been this idea of letting go. And let me tell you... I'm not very good at it. I am a champ at clinging to things that I have no control over, mulling over situations in my head for days, letting my mind wander to all the possible scenarios that could happen if things don't go exactly how I would like them too, etc... You would think that I would have learned this lesson over the years of always having to LET GO, but nope. My thick skull takes work, but God keeps on going with the lessons. Let go and Let God, right?
Yesterday was one of those lessons. I was on morning shift, as per usual on Wednesday's, and was excited when a labor came in around 7:30am. She was such a gem and was working through contractions really well. Unfortunately, her blood pressure was quite high. Over the next few hours we tried everything we could to stabilize the BP. It would stabilize for a while, and then jump right back up. Through this all, she labored beautifully and was such a joy to work with. Eventually, we had to make the decision to transport her to the hospital. I hugely dislike transporting. I think all midwives do. But there are some cases where labor jumps outside the realm of normal, and we have to let go. Whether we want to or not, we have to make these decisions. I don't want to let go. I don't want those patients to have to go somewhere else. I want to be able to change the circumstance. I want to have more control. But I don't, and I can't. So I must let go. I have to trust that God is taking care of the situation better than I ever could and that He will continue to do so whether at Abundant or at the hospital. And he did. This morning I was able to go visit a beautiful little 3.4kg baby girl, born to my patient about three hours after we transported her. Mom and baby are doing very well!
The lessons of letting go don't stop with clinic work, but roll over into so many areas of my life it seems. But that's ok. I know that God is in control and that I can do very little by clinging to things with my little (but strong!) fists.
Next week I am heading up to the clinic in Bugnay... and I am so excited! I get to hang out with the awesome folks up there, hike up into some other villages, do well-woman appointments, and enjoy the mountain air. I will bring back some stories and pictures to share.
In the meantime, I'd love to share some prayer requests with you!
- For the clinic, as always. I am SO blessed to be a part of this amazing ministry here and love to see it prosper.
- For our patients - health for moms and babies.
- It is almost time to begin fundraising for my LAST semester. Yes, LAST. Crazy, eh? I will need to raise another $8,000 to finish out my time here. It will be due Feb 1st. Prayer for provision would be amazing!
Love you all!! Thanks for reading!
A
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