Who will fill the hole in her heart?
Philip Cron is a young man from West Virginia who Karen and I coach on the World Race. He shared the following story from Swaziland: “One night before worship we had gotten lost when I saw an alarming sight – the figure of a person drop to the ground across the street! When we crossed the street we found the woman had fallen into a drop-off, lost one of her shoes in the sewer and twisted her ankle fairly badly. We quickly ran down and asked if she was ok, but she was crying too hard to answer us. After she gained her composure she told us her ankle was hurting as she struggled to stand. A couple of us guys helped her to her feet, and I asked if we could pray for her ankle. She accepted, so our group of eight gathered around her and started praying.
Her name is Takhona. After we prayed, she asked if we could help her walk to her house and pray for her 18 month old baby girl, Ingiphile. She has a hole in her heart and it is creating complications with the rest of her body. We quickly agreed to help her out and pray for her daughter. By the time we arrived at her house she was walking just fine and told me she was feeling much better.
As we all crammed into her living room we were greeted by her husband Sifiso and their firstborn daughter. After a while Takhona came into the room with Ingiphile, her beautiful baby girl. She just stared at us with a “what are these white people doing here?” face.
We prayed in unity for God’s healing over her life. Before we finished praying I heard God clearly say, “do something,” which I have not heard yet on the Race.
After we prayed, Takhona showed me Ingiphile’s medical papers and explained that she needs two operations to survive this tragedy. The first operation will cost $14,807 and the second $74,036. They never once asked for money. They didn’t beg or plead; they simply asked if we would pray that God would provide the funds needed to help their baby.
I believe he intends to save this baby girl’s life. Imagine the emotions of knowing that there is hope for your sick child. I believe that the advancement of God’s kingdom starts with just one- not multitudes of thousands- but one. One person that is impacted by God’s people and in return impacts another and it creates a chain reaction of discipleship and advancement of God’s kingdom.
Ingiphile has a hole in her heart. It’s a hole that God wants to fill.”
If you’d like to join Philip in addressing Ingiphile’s need, please contact me.
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