Hard Gratitude

July 15, 2015

Tonight I am grateful for the combination of technology, friends, and prayer. Our granddaughter Alex is in Uganda on mission work for the summer. Before leaving, she had a small insect bite on her ankle which in Uganda's different mix of bacteria, became infected. She's been keeping us posted through Facebook and instant messaging, and today we were able to Skype with her. Upon Meema's insistence, she showed us her foot with a nasty, weeping sore about half the size of a dime. She's been running a fever, and looked pretty worn down. Her parents are on vacation, and out of cell phone service, so she hasn't been able to contact them. When a kid is sick, she needs her parents, but it wasn't possible. That's the down side. On the other hand, we were able to talk with her, she is being looked after by Dean and Karen Houser, who have antibiotics with them. Unfortunately, Alex is allergic to some classes of antibiotics. Enter Jill, our pharmacist friend. Linda called her with the information on the antibiotic Karen has with her. Jill told us it was a totally different class, and was probably the best for her situation, as it is a generalized medicine that will deal with infection no matter where in the body it manifests. We relayed the information to Karen, were able to make contact with Nate and Deb through pastor Joe's phone, which having a different carrier, was still active.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 & 18 we are told to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in everything. We are learning just what that means. Alex is continually on our minds and in our prayers. The giving thanks part is a little harder right now, but we are doing it, thankful for Alex's heart for Christ and the people with whom she is working, for Dean and Karen who are watching over her, for the doctors in Kampala who hopefully will see her tomorrow, for Jill's friendship and expertise, and for prayer. I don't know what we would do with our worries if we didn't have this recourse to prayer. We cannot by ourselves do even the slightest thing to remedy this situation. So we pray. And pray. And pray some more. And in spite of our worries and fears, we give thanks.