On my last main day of ministry, I was able to go to the local hospital to visit with some of the people who were there. This was a tuff one for me because anyone who knows me understands that hospitals are not one of my favorite places. I knew this was going to be a stretch for me, but I really felt a calling to go with them and be a part of their ministry there. Right before I went to the hospital, I realized I had forgotten to change my shoes. In order to get into the hospital, we were supposed to wear white doctor coats and closed-toed shoes. Well, I had open-toed sandals on at the time. I must say I started to panic because I knew we didn’t have time to go back and change and going to the hospital was something I really felt led to do. So, I just started praying. All the way there I just prayed that the Lord would have them allow me to enter. The four of us walked up to the door and stopped outside to pray before going in. We prayed that God would prepare the way for us and the hearts of those we would be speaking to and would remove any road blocks (like the shoes) that would keep us from going in. So, I took a deep breath and headed in behind the rest of the group. Sure enough I walked straight in without one mention of my shoes from the guard. My heart jumped as God had just completely paved the way for us as only He could. Praise the Lord!
We decided to go to the children’s ward and there we were able to visit with a young girl who had just had her appendix out. We spoke with her mom, played games with her and just tried to help take her mind off of being in the hospital for a few minutes. There was also an infant in the room who had pneumonia. Her 16-year-old mother was there with her trying to quiet her. We spoke with the mother some and then I prayed for her and her child while Tamara translated. After being there for about an hour, we decided to spend our last hour in another area of the hospital. It was a little awkward, but we just walked down the hallway until we saw someone that the Lord was telling us to go talk to. As we walked up and down the hall, I saw this lady at the back of her room all by herself. I really felt like we should go talk to her, so we all headed in and asked if we could speak with her. She was happy to have visitors as she had been in there with no visitors for a while. It turned out that she was suffering from diabetes which was affecting her feet. She was worried she was going to lose use of her feet as many people do with her disease. She cried through much of the conversation but it was awesome to get to read some verses to her, pray for her and just encourage and love on her for an hour. I don’t think words can do justice to how much God spoke to me that day. Just listening to Him and seeing Him show up was amazing. I know God is working greatly in that ministry.
I must say after a full week of spending time with the young people who are serving there as well as the beautiful people of Mexico, it was really hard for me to leave to go back home. I can honestly say that for the first time I truly saw the Mexican people through the eyes of Christ instead of through my own human eyes. I saw their beauty, their kindness, the heartaches and their needs. They are truly beautiful. It is obvious that the First Year Missionaries who are living there for 9 months are having an amazing impact on those in the city of Matamoros, and I am just truly blessed to have had the opportunity to minister alongside them. I am so grateful to them for welcoming me into their family, and I am a better person for knowing them! They will truly be missed, but it will be exciting to be able to speak with them when they return from the field and see how this opportunity has changed them.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement while I was gone. The Lord healed me from my fever, and I didn’t have to miss any ministries while I was there. Praise Him for all of His glorious blessings and for loving me enough to allow me to show His love to others. I am truly blessed!
**Click on “See My Pics” to see some of the pictures I took while I was in Mexico.
For His Glory,
Caroline 🙂
Ps. 56:3
