I have yet to bear a child, but my assessment of the birthing process can be summed up with one word: PAINFUL!
Yet for all the pain of childbirth, it is the joy that follows that eases a mother's physical discomfort, and sustains her through her healing process that follows. Yet, here in Liberia, as in many places in the world that lack available medical care, there is not joy that follows a woman's labor. All too often women endure the agony of prolonged labor during childbirth, and with it, the damaging effects of sustained pressure on their birth canal. If they themselves survive, it is not to enter into the joy of a new life, but to bear the pain of life lost. The child inside them is gone, and their torn bodies now serve as a constant reminder of a hope and a life they almost had. Instead of joy they now live with shame, as these injuries sustained now cause them to constantly leak urine. All too often they are rejected by their husbands and their communities.
Perhaps this is what grabs at my heart and makes me ache for these dear women: what was meant to be a labor resulting in joy, becomes a labor resulting in shame. What could be more painful?
Of the various surgeries and ailments that I have seen in just my short amount of time here, this is one population of patients in particular that touches a place deep in my heart. In the last several years, surgeons on board the ship have begun treating women who have sustained injuries during childbirth that now cause them to constantly leak urine or feces. They have sustained pressure sores inside their bodies, causing a breakdown between the birth canal and their urethra, and sometimes to their rectum. The surgeons on board the ship seek to close up these areas inside the women and stop this constant leaking....sometimes it is successful. Sadly, sometimes it is not.
My second day on the ship, I had the privilege of attending a 'dress ceremony'. Before these women are discharged from the hospital to go back home, they have a celebration. Each woman is given a new dress and some jewelry. They have their makeup done for them. While all the patients that are able gather together in one of the wards, the women come down the hall singing, and join with the others rejoicing and praising God for what He has done for them. Each woman is given a chance to share, to thank God, to express her heart. Through these surgeries, God has brought to many women healing and restoration....not just of their physical bodies, but of their hearts as well.
A dear friend reminded me once that God often uses the physical to explain the spiritual. This is one such case where the picture is worth a thousand words. Just as these women have experienced the binding up of their wounds, we have a God who promises to bind up ours. Just as they have been given new clothes, our God promises a new covering over us as well. It is my hope and prayer that as these women rejoice in the healing they have received, that they would be rejoicing in the One who Heals them. The words of Isaiah regarding the Lord come quickly to mind:
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedome for the captives...to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair....Instead of thier shame my people will receive a DOUBLE PORTION in their land, and EVERLASTING JOY will be theirs...."
Isaiah 61:1-3,7
Yet for all the pain of childbirth, it is the joy that follows that eases a mother's physical discomfort, and sustains her through her healing process that follows. Yet, here in Liberia, as in many places in the world that lack available medical care, there is not joy that follows a woman's labor. All too often women endure the agony of prolonged labor during childbirth, and with it, the damaging effects of sustained pressure on their birth canal. If they themselves survive, it is not to enter into the joy of a new life, but to bear the pain of life lost. The child inside them is gone, and their torn bodies now serve as a constant reminder of a hope and a life they almost had. Instead of joy they now live with shame, as these injuries sustained now cause them to constantly leak urine. All too often they are rejected by their husbands and their communities.
Perhaps this is what grabs at my heart and makes me ache for these dear women: what was meant to be a labor resulting in joy, becomes a labor resulting in shame. What could be more painful?
Of the various surgeries and ailments that I have seen in just my short amount of time here, this is one population of patients in particular that touches a place deep in my heart. In the last several years, surgeons on board the ship have begun treating women who have sustained injuries during childbirth that now cause them to constantly leak urine or feces. They have sustained pressure sores inside their bodies, causing a breakdown between the birth canal and their urethra, and sometimes to their rectum. The surgeons on board the ship seek to close up these areas inside the women and stop this constant leaking....sometimes it is successful. Sadly, sometimes it is not.
My second day on the ship, I had the privilege of attending a 'dress ceremony'. Before these women are discharged from the hospital to go back home, they have a celebration. Each woman is given a new dress and some jewelry. They have their makeup done for them. While all the patients that are able gather together in one of the wards, the women come down the hall singing, and join with the others rejoicing and praising God for what He has done for them. Each woman is given a chance to share, to thank God, to express her heart. Through these surgeries, God has brought to many women healing and restoration....not just of their physical bodies, but of their hearts as well.
A dear friend reminded me once that God often uses the physical to explain the spiritual. This is one such case where the picture is worth a thousand words. Just as these women have experienced the binding up of their wounds, we have a God who promises to bind up ours. Just as they have been given new clothes, our God promises a new covering over us as well. It is my hope and prayer that as these women rejoice in the healing they have received, that they would be rejoicing in the One who Heals them. The words of Isaiah regarding the Lord come quickly to mind:
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedome for the captives...to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair....Instead of thier shame my people will receive a DOUBLE PORTION in their land, and EVERLASTING JOY will be theirs...."
Isaiah 61:1-3,7
2 comments:
One word comes to mind when I read this..."Glorious" Amazing Becks, how the Lord has chosen you to be a crucial part of these women's healing both physical and spiritual. (Yep, you succeded... I did get a lil misty-eyed). In Him Who is Able, HP :)
Okay, I too got misty-eyed! What a privilege to be a part of that amazing transformation in the lives of the women you are helping make new! xo alice
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