A confused beginning
Posted on August 13, 2008
Filed Under Faith |
The Inpatient's ward
The inpatient’s ward at Mae Tao Clinic is about as basic as you can get in terms of medical care. Its just three rows of beds, with between 50 and 60 patients. Most of them have little more than a flimsy blanket, with no sign of advanced medical equipment.
I was there today with my friend Brad for what I hope will become at least a weekly visit to pray for the patients. But, as we looked around, I was struck by a simple question: Where do we start?
Earlier in the day, I had called Johnny, who works at the clinic and is acting as our guide and translator, and asked him to go around before we got there and find out if any of the patients were Christians.
My vision for this ministry has always been to focus on patients, who are already Christians, and to try and encourage them. But, according to Johnny, there were no Christians in the ward today, although he added that he thought everyone would be open to having us pray with them.
So, I turned to Johnny and asked him to introduce us to some patients, he started at the bed nearest us, and after praying for the first patient, we moved on to the next bed. After praying for three people, it was obvious this was going to take a while. Since Johnny’s shift had finished half an hour ago, he looked at me with a concerned expression, and asked if we were going to pray for everyone?
For a moment, I wondered if there was a spiritual answer to that question. Was the Spirit leading us to certain patients? Should we stop in the middle of the crowded ward and pray for guidance about who we should pray for? Should we prayer walk up and down the aisles, in a form of collective prayer for healing?
In the end, I told Johnny we would just pray for the more serious cases. There were maybe ten in total, including two malaria cases, a man with sclerosis of the liver and one man with painful joints, who had travelled for three days to get to the clinic, as well as various other ailments.
We’ll be back next week, and I look forward to following up with some of the patients I gave out tracts to, as well as praying for more of the patients.
Please pray for us in this ministry, there is a lot of work ahead of us and we need to be covered in prayer.
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Shane's LifeStream
It is a blessing to pray about this Shane. Even reading it witnesses to my spirit and I can sense your heart. I pray for much fruit here and believe that the Lord’s compassion is for them now through you. I pray over all the seeds you have planted, may healing of body, mind and spirit be theirs. I pray also for the Lord’s encouragement, support and strength for you and your friends, and may you all see your work there truly set captives free. Amen.