“Be strong and courageous….for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

I have a plaque on my wall that says, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”  That might sound like a pretty little statement, but it isn’t totally true.  God DOES call the qualified in many instances, but He also qualifies the called.  This blog will concentrate on how God qualified a group of eight women to run a medical mission in Honduras last week.  When I think of all that happened, I can only give praise to God!  He was the One who worked through us to accomplish His purposes.

Five of the eight women had never been on a mission trip, let alone a medical trip.  Three of the members got detained in the US because of hurricanes in Houston, so we began our clinics with five women, two Honduran doctors and one Honduran registered nurse.  Marta and Maddie stepped in and began triage, the process of checking everyone in.  Meredith did lab work and I was in the Pharmacy with the nurse.  Our clinic that day was in a church with a dirt floor in a very poor area of Choluteca.  Dogs and children ran in and out as we performed our duties.  At the end of the day, we had seen 135 patients, passed out medicines to each one and sent a few to the local hospital.  I’m not sure how we accomplished it!  All I can say is, “God did it.”  Our one lone male, Jerry who accompanied us, was a veteran of mission trips, but never a medical one.  He stepped right up and took the job of replenishing our supplies, going to the local pharmacy to restock the meds and kept us loose with his sense of humor.  Charlotte fitted reading glasses, held babies in her spare time and delighted us with her enthusiastic personality.  The following day, the rest of the team came, Karin, Molly and Chloe.

Each day was not the same, different church and neighborhood, but every day, the Lord supplied exactly what we needed.  Maddie worked with the children, Marta and Molly did triage, Chloe and I filled prescriptions in the pharmacy and Karin and Meredith did the lab work.  Charlotte had the joy of doing manicures for the women.   Everyone had a job to do and performed it through God’s enabling.  At the end of the week, we had seen 760 patients, filled as many prescriptions, passed out 350 reading glasses, saw three people accept Christ as their Savior, several more re-committed their lives to Christ.  We passed out 300 boxes/bags of children’s vitamins, worm pills for each, children’s antibiotics and liquid Tylenol.  For adults, we caught 86 patients with high glucose, 15 new diabetics, 86 with high blood pressure and the rest generally unwell and needed vitamins or antibiotics.  Many patients had asthma or suffered from allergies because of poor air quality.  The lead pastor, Pastor Mario, couldn’t afford to take his meds, so Marta was able to provide funds for a six month supply.  The girls loved giving away the gifts we brought for the children:  ball caps, slap bracelets, candy, stuffed toys, tote bags and crafts of all kinds.  It was total joy to see the looks on their faces!!

I thought of Moses when God appeared to him in the burning bush and gave him his orders.  Moses argued with God and said, “Send someone else!  Then God told Moses who He was, “I AM WHO I AM!”  With prayer and dependence on God, our ragtag little group was able to perform far beyond our ability and in the end, we realized it was all God!!  Glory to Him!!  God does call the qualified, but He also qualifies the called!!

Your friend Jean, LPN