In God's hands...

There’s a fine line sometimes between trusting your child into God’s hands and trusting your child into the hands of a medical professional. In a country where healthcare is often practiced so poorly, one could argue that at times maybe it is better to leave things to God. Going to a ‘doctor’, who can be anyone from a doctor, nurse, dispenser, medicine man, drug peddler, etc., can definitely make things worse for a child. I have seen the aftermath of some of their ‘treatments’.

On the other hand, although God is able to do all things, to heal all disease, He does not always choose to do so. I believe He has equipped people (medical doctors for example) to be able to provide medical help to those in need. And even more so, I believe He has given mankind common sense to take their very sick children to hospitals for help.

One mother this week disagreed with me. I had already let in my set amount of patients for the day and her very malnourished child was among the 15+ children being sent away. I explained that I already had too many kids in the clinic and that what her child actually needed was to be admitted at the feeding center in town. She did not need a referral letter, but could just show up with her child, pay a small fee and be admitted and start receiving the food she needed. The mother got angry. If I did not help her child she would just go home. She would say we did not want to help. I explained again that even if I saw her, which I couldn’t, there was nothing more I could do. The mother was not listening. She boldly stated that she would let God take care of her child. If He wanted her to live, she would live. I agreed with her that God could help, but also made it clear that God put people in place to help her, and that there were people at the feeding center who could help her child.

By this time the other mothers, whose kids I could also not see that day, were getting involved, telling this mother to take her malnourished child to the feeding center. None of it helped. In the end I had to let it go. The last words I heard the mother say were: “If she dies, well, then so be it. I have five other children at home.” This time I had to leave things in God’s hands…