Too young to die

Baby Elizabeth came to us a week ago monday at 10 and a half months weighing a bleak 6.5 pounds. My friend Kyenpiya saw Elizabeth and her mother Sarah at the market and seeing that they both were sickly looking and very thin, she asked them to come and get an HIV test. To no surprise they were both HIV positive. I am encouraged at ther boldness and desire to help this poor woman and her baby. Elizabeth could only wimper, and was eating so poorly. She looked like she was starving to death. We weren't sure whether the baby was literally starving, or if she had full blown AIDS already. She was so hungry and would eat as if she hadn't eaten for days. They admitted her to the hospital and put a tube in her nose for feeding. Kara and I went to visit them daily bringing them food, clothes and others things. We prayed with her and tried to encourage her to hang on. The level of poverty in this family was so sad for us to see. Sarah continued to wear the same clothes day after day. She herself could not be more than 80 pounds. We encouraged her to hold onto her faith in Jesus and to put her trust and hope in him. It boggles my mind the level of ignorance and lack of education and resources these peole have. Sarah had no idea that she herself or her baby were so sick. How could she not know? How could she wait so long to bring her baby for treatment? I will never as long as I live understand this. I am so sad because she could have been helped months ago, and yet she continued to starve month after month until a stranger on the street had to tell her to go and get help. There is something so wrong with that.


We tried so many things to sustain the baby's life, tube feedings, IV fluids, antibiotics and even put her into the ICU. But to no avial, all of our efforts seemed in vain. God took Elizabeth home this morning. She died at 9 a.m. Her mother came to us in tears and totally devastated. She took her back to their village for her buriel today. Yet another baby has died and I couldn't stop it. Nothing I did made a difference in the end. I am so angry. I refused to go and see the baby for fear I would have another meltdown, can't do that to myself. This is the third baby we have lost in the last two weeks. The only thing I can do is to trust in God's Sovereignty. I must cling to God's amazing love and goodness. Elizabeth was too young to die and I don't understand, but I guess I don't have to.


I covet your prayers as I deal with these situations that seem utterly hopeless. One verse that I am clinging to is Psalm 119:28, "My soul is weary with sorrow, strengthen me according to your word......I run in the paths of your commands for you have set my heart free!" Praise HIM for I am free, Jesus has set me free.