"Dr." Kanakulya

"The key to the missionary problem is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer not work...Naturally, prayer is not practical, it is absurd; we have to realize that prayer is stupid from the ordinary common-sense point of view....[But] you labor at prayer and results happen all the time from His standpoint."   (Oswald Chambers)

At the beginning of November, we welcomed our first medical professional on staff here at Musana, Geoffrey Kanakulya.  We have been praying for a doctor or nurse for many years, and we even have had the shell of a clinic built in faith that God would send someone to us.  So we were very thankful when God brought Geoffrey to us, and it has been amazing to see the ways that God has prepared him to be here.  He is a clinical officer, which is similar to a physician's assistant, but he has had many unique experiences that have equipped him for starting a clinic in a remote area. 

Our family in particular has been very thankful to have "Dr." Kanakulya around (as Abigail calls him) over the last few weeks.  First, Abigail came down with bacterial dysentery, which she then passed on to me (she was just trying to share, right?).  My stomach problems hit at the same time as a severe bout of malaria.  Then, this week, John decided he needed a scar on his right knee to match the one on his left from when he was two years old.  Even last year, each of these instances might have caused us a trip to town to see a doctor and get medication, but now we were just able to call Geoffrey or go up to the clinic.  

Prayer is often a discipline that is easy for me to talk about and not as easy for me to practice.  Sometimes it is from a lack of self-discipline and sometimes it is from believing Satan's lie that prayer is only a last resort, something we do when we can't do anything else.  But the truth is that when we "cast our cares on Him," we are putting our problems in God's control instead of trying to take control of them ourselves.  As Chambers wrote, "prayer is not practical, it is absurd" from a common sense point of view.  But I am so thankful that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men" (1 Cor. 1:25), and that God is "able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20).  

Sometimes we pray and do not see results from our point of view, and sometimes God graciously allows us to see that He is answering our prayers.  We are so thankful to Him for sending the right medical person with the right experience and training to us in His perfect timing.  And we are so thankful that we can come boldly before the throne of grace in our times of need (which is always!), that we pray to a God who always listens, and that He is a God who is working for His glory and our good in all things.