needs not forgotten

"But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish." Ps. 9:18
Our Thursday clinic is about 10 minutes outside of town and the patients there are typically the sickest we see. Two weeks ago, a 4-year old girl, had a horribly infected ulcer that had eaten away a golf-ball-sized section of her back side. We knew she needed to go to a hospital to get proper treatment and that her mother would also need training on how to do follow-up care at home. Two members of our team took her to two local, public hospitals but she was refused treatment because they were full. They all returned to our clinic to decide what Plan C would be. When the girl and her mother returned, they heard about a Hope that will never perish and the mother "joined the family!" After clinic, we were able to call in a favor and take them to the private hospital in town where the little girl was examined by a surgeon and admitted for care. They found out that the girl also has a serious chronic illness and will need ongoing care for some time. The girl's grandmother came later to help in the girl's care, and she now also believes!! Different members of our team have been visiting the family almost daily and on the most recent visit the grandmother shared this. "Even if my granddaughter doesn't get well, I know that God used her to bring us here so that we could hear the message of how to know Him."
Back in Addis, two of my friends made a visit to the women's fistula hospital I mentioned in a previous update. Various people on our team have been visiting the hospital sporadically, with weeks of travel or holidays coming in between visits. But in the last two weeks, five women heard and accepted the message of hope! My friend told me that when they were talking with the first woman they kept repeating the message, partially out of shock, to make sure the women had really believed.
I'm reading through the Psalms right now, and even at chapter 14, I am struck by how his word repeatedly expresses his desire for justice and his heart of compassion. Today I am rejoicing in who our Father is: He is the one who is faithful to his word, who remembers the poor and who offers hope that cannot perish! We met these women at a time when their physical problems were great, but their need for a hope beyond the physical was infinitely greater. Let's praise the Father for putting these women in our path, for remembering them in their time of need and for calling them to Himself!

… a few more promises to remember…
"The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." 9:9
"You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify them no more." 10:17-18
"Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the Lord, "I will protect them from those who malign them." 11:5