Love in action

Earlier this week I posted this picture on twitter and facebook and I called it ‘Love in action’

It is a picture of my brother Jonathan, braving force 4 winds and 2 meter swells to swim the Solent to raise money to help support me and my work with Mercy Ships.  They swam with the tide, but the wind was against them making the waves huge! The coast guard only gave them permission because they were just two swimmers, not a large group, and both with open water experience. Normally the swim is not permitted in these conditions. Two of the support kayakers had to be rescued by the support boat because they couldn’t make headway against the wind! Thankfully Jonathan and his friend made it safely across. It was a huge effort and I am so grateful for my family who support me in so many wide and varied ways.  It was the second sponsored swim Jonathan has done for me, and this was certainly the biggest and toughest and that’s why I describe it as Love in action.

Love comes in many shapes and forms and my second image this month is another type of Love in action.

This picture is members of our screening team. For the last 2 weeks they have seen over 3000 people. People who lack access to basic medical care and come searching for help. The hardest part of their job is saying ‘no’.  I have done screening so I know how hard it is. Saying 'no' because the disease isn't treatable by surgery; 'no' because we don't do that type of surgery; or, 'no' because we are full - there is no more space in that surgical program. The need is enormous. For me the challenge is not just to know how to meet the need on the strategic level, but also how, on a personal level, I can find a way to love and care for the individual in front of me, retaining my heart of compassion that aches at the injustices in this world. Finding a way to cope with all the suffering and yet, still believing in a loving God, who holds the whole world in his hands, and can truly do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

The screening team's job is to select patients to bring to the ship for the surgeons who will come week by week. These first few weeks we are in the principal city of Cotonou. But next week, local people who we have trained will go out 2 by 2 to scour the country, aiming to reach the truly poor people in the rural areas. Our workers have already made contact with village chiefs, community leaders, church leaders, local Imams and others. And then our screening team will join them to assist in efforts to bring surgical care to those that need it.

I love this job. I love that I get to see Love in action in so many ways. I love that I get to be part of both giving and receiving Love in action. My job with Mercy Ships has truly touched my heart profoundly in so many ways over the last few years. In ways I never even dreamed off. I will miss it when I leave.

Thank you for reading my blog and to everyone who has been part of my story and the story of all those whose lives we have touched here in so many countries in Africa. Thank you all for being part of Love in action.