Why Do We Do What We Do???????

Photo by Laurie Hanson Thompson 2005

Psalm 139:13-14 NASB

For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother's womb.

I will give thanks to You,

 for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

A group of ladies from Baker Heights put Birthing Kits together to send to Zambia for the 2014 Medical Mission. 

Some people ask, "Why don't you put this and that in? Why? Why? 

It is hard to comprehend the poverty that the majority of Zambian people live in. How do we as Americans comprehend  what it must look like for 80% of Zambian people to live on $2.00 a day or less?  A lot of Zambians do not even have that $2.00. Their survival depends on what they can garner from the earth.

Copyright by Shelia Holmes

For most Americans it is impossible to understand that the clothes on some Zambians back maybe the only clothes they own. When one looks at their feet, they are often bare.                                     

How do we as Americans understand that the field mice they catch may be the only food they and their family have for the day?

Copyright by Shelia Holmes

How do we really realize that a lot of the water they have to drink and cook with is the same water they bathe in, wash clothes, cook with, animals drink from, and they carry on their heads for miles to get it to their village?

Most Americans just do not have a knowledge base to understand.  

The first time I went to Zambia I was so overwhelmed by the extreme and widespread poverty.  Seeing truly is believing. It has changed my perspective.  And I thank God.

Back to the birthing kits.  What good can a piece of plastic, a scalpel, two pieces of string, two pairs of rubber gloves, two anti-bacterial wipes, four gauze, soap, a baby blanket, a tiny baby cap, an HIV/AIDS pamphlet and an Intro lesson the WBS do?

The plastic can provide a clean place for the mother to lie on to birth her baby.  The rubber gloves can keep germs off the baby and out of the mother.  The wipes can clean the birthing site as well as hands. The clean string can be used instead of dirty elephant grass or a dirty rag to tie the cord.  The clean sterile scalpel can be used to cut the cord.

The sterile gauze can clean the baby's mouth, eyes, ears, etc.

The gauze can help stop some of the bleeding of the mother.  The HIV/AIDS pamphlet can inform them and others about AIDS prevention and the Intro lesson to WBS may very well lead them, as well as others to Christ.

Think about what happens when they do not have these things. They have a dirty birthing site, dirty hands wiping the eyes, mouth, and nose of the baby. They have dirty hands handling the cord and using dirty elephant grass to cut the cord. Possibly they will never learn about AIDS prevention. 

How will they hear if no one teaches them?  Remember the majority of the people in Zambia have no Bible.

Many women have to trek to hospital on foot or go by bike while heavily pregnant.  Some women who live in more remote areas cannot even make it to a health facility in time. These women are frequently forced to give birth at home in unsterile conditions and with little assistance.  

Zambia suffers from an excessively high maternal mortality rate of 591 deaths per 100,000 live births.  More than 50% of Zambian women receive no postnatal care at all. http://blogs.unicef.org.uk/2014/02/18/children-commonwealth-zambia-babies

Why take the time to gather supplies and make the Birthing Kits? Maybe we will get to be a tiny part of some ones precious birth. God knows the unformed substance of these children and He knows the number of their days.  Maybe we will be a tiny part of God’s work in Zambia. Maybe He wants us to have the privilege of helping one of these babies survive so it can grow up to serve him.

Some may have heard the story of Wellington’s birth on the side of the road on the way to the clinic. His mother and grandmother birthed him, wrapped him and carried him on to the clinic. Look what God has done with Wellington. What if he had not survived?

I am reminded that God does not need anything from us.

In Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

Verses 26-27 sums up why we take the time and trouble to put together a simple Birthing Kit and go to Zambia.

26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;.  

The focus is not on what we are doing, the focus is on what God wants us to do. Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,.

God does not need us to do His work but He blesses us by allowing us to participate in His mighty work. Thanks you God.

For a free Bible study go to:www.bigcountry.worldbibleschool.org