Praise the Lord, I’m back in the Philippines after 4 whole months stateside! The original plan was one month of recuperation and visiting family… not long after arriving there, that quickly turned to 3 months! For those who don’t know, I had the chance to shadow/ intern with a wonderful midwife in Washington State during that extended time period as part of my clinical training. (I gleaned so much more than just that, too…) When I returned East, flights back to the Philippines got cancelled several times. I still look back in gratefulness at everyone who patiently helped me rearrange plans, made long drives to the airport, and even came to visit when they knew I was back a bit longer. The goodbyes still remain the worst part in my mind, but it’s a blessing to know people who love so well that it makes departing difficult.
This post, though, I wanted to just reflect on this transition period back to the Philippines. I still think about how crazy it is that I was able to come back during all the lockdowns and global travel policies. That alone has me thanking the Lord each time I’ve woken up here in Davao. It was always my plan to return to my commitment here, but the delays gave me more than enough time to really think through the “why,” behind it all. Trying to make wise decisions about rebooking with each cancellation in itself was emotionally draining. But it pales in comparison to the joy I had this last week as I finished my two quarantines and started back in the maternity clinic.
The people (both locals and foreigners) who have continued to work such long hours through the summer are still so committed to the work God is doing here. It’s evident that the additional patient volume and constant schedule changes are wearing them down, yet they show up and put their hands to good work… I have missed the sweaty shifts and blurry language struggle because it means working alongside them when the days are long. They’ve got down an efficient system for the hundreds of women that walk through the doors each week, and I’m honored to rejoin them.
The past few days have been quite sad, though, as 3 members of our staff have gotten sick – the previous interaction on shifts meant the government requested us to do close contact tracing – and a number of us have landed ourselves in quarantine… I won’t lie, it’s so hard to wrestle with the “whys” and the policies, but I also see God’s grace in the staff being willing to step back for each others’ safety and to comply with those over us (not to mention everyone stepping up to fill in gaps that it leaves). We had to close down Mercy for the second time since the pandemic started, which I know hurts the hearts of so many who both work to keep it running and who benefit from the care it provides. I think of all the mommas I spent time with in the few days prior who were nearing time for labor or just had their first little ones and were going to be full of questions in the coming days. Some of the staff spent so much time making referrals for delivery elsewhere (raising exposure to hospitals, unfortunately), and answering questions. I know they will be safe as we are blessed to have a few resources around here, but please keep them in your prayers with me!
While we await reopening and we each get to reenter on various timelines, I’ve been thinking about this time of solitude – especially what it means to be away from our “work.” Am I useless until I can go back out into the world? Isn’t that my *real* work? Those are just a few of the lies used against us; it’s why I see in my generation a needy attitude that we must have our own cup filled before looking to another’s. The need to finish our education or our saving up or correcting our relationships before real life can begin… I pray against these things! And I have certainly seen them in myself. These things will become our very lives, if we’re not careful. I’m not negating the importance of bettering our minds and hearts (it’s been refreshing to spend so much time reading biblical wisdom and catching up on course work!), but we aren’t meant to simply pass the time with the work in our hands. Each day holds value and should have a sense of (peaceful) urgency to it.
I was reading in Nehemiah today, in one of those passages full of repetition that is so easy to gloss over (not afraid to admit it, but also learning the value of them with the help of some resources/ tools). My study pointed out a group of builders on the team recruited by Nehemiah to reassemble the wall around Jerusalem. It said, “the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.” That can so easily be me. Going through the motions, knowing hard work is good for the world & people around me, but forgetting why. The thing about God’s promise to return to us, and the fact that no man knows the hour or day… the enemy has used that to his advantage, letting us believe we’ll “know when we need to,” without any meaningful action attached. Yes, God is sovereign, but I have to prepare oil for my lamp in the meantime (see Matthew 25:1-13).
Christ will return, and while we await His coming He is also our hope and purpose in both solitude and waiting, and in our man-made agendas. Hebrews 11 reminded me this week that Noah prepared in faith. He believed God that it would rain. “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household…” (v 7). Others around him may have found life to be better their own way. I wonder how often he asked God when the rain would come, or if it even would. But he is remembered by having faith and reverent fear of the Lord to carry out preparation in obedience. How much more should I, after being made aware of Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf (Phil. 2:5-8) and the Spirit’s intercession (Romans 8:26) for me each day, put my hands to work in faith?
Join me in prayer over all the logistics in these coming weeks, and each of the weary hands that have been at work to serve – would you pray for renewed joy in it? Pray for refreshing hope, reminders that unity of the body is God’s design that will yield fruit (Ephesians 4:11-16). Pray this over the maternity center here, if you will, and over all the ministries spread out among the countries that have faithful workers and servants of God (and some still coming to know Him…) asking for similar endurance and unity. And if you’re in a season like this, yourself, remember these things about God’s people:
“O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.” Psalm 44:1-3
“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:12-14
“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not!” Isaiah 35:3-4
Here’s a resource for you: this article and an excerpt: “Do not be deceived by the texture of the weeks and years as they pass. In each, eternity is at stake. In each, He [Christ] approaches.”
anna cherie
Love you, your faith, your words, your work.
I pray.
Wendy Kova