Brave

Head down, eyes lowered in shame….she came to the clinic. Two years ago she was sick and fell into a fire. Burns all over both legs, one never recovered. Her left leg is contracted and several inches shorter than her right leg, making it impossible to walk without a stick. 

She hobbled into the clinic. Two hours were spent debriding the wound – removing infection and dead skin carefully with a scalpel. And this brave girl watched the whole thing. She never cried, just held onto Casey’s hand and endured it. Finally, when it was done, she smiled and thanked us again and again. No one had ever taken the time to care for it. Her mother told us before leaving, “She is happy again.”

This girl who shares my Ugandan name is near to my heart. She is a Muslim and knows who Jesus is but obeys her religion. She is in the darkness. We pray for the One who heals perfectly to open her heart.

She comes every day now to get her dressing changed. And this girl walks on one leg, leaning on a stick,  over an hour to get here….over rocks and uphill paths, in the heat of the day with no water. She comes with a smile and a laugh. She comes without her head covered. She stays to play netball on one leg. She smiles again. 

And every day, most importantly, she hears about Jesus. Just as her foot needed to be cleaned and all of the decay scraped off, so her soul needs the same. And so do ours. Only Jesus can heal, only He can take our brokenness and our rotting flesh and replace it with life. 

Thank you, Jesus, for Your faithfulness.