Friday, February 18, 2011

Little Baby Neang Rua - A Gift from God!



Today is one of those days when I have to just stop and give thanks to the Lord in the midst of a busy morning. Why? This morning I got an email from our friends at Place of Rescue overseen by Marie Ens, one of my heroes and favourite people!

Her staff had sent me a picture of a little friend called Neang Rua (which means life)…Rua is just under 2 years old but I remember in July 2009, when I first saw her small feeble body, I cried. Her mother, a prostitute was told by the hospital that there was nothing they could do for this baby who had spina bifida and advised her to take her home and let her die. But God had other plans, special plans and a special purpose for this fragile, broken baby. Thanks to Pich, a wonderful staff member of Daughters Cambodia, one of our partners, this little baby was brought to the Daughters centre. I so clearly remember 3 of my team members and I surrounding her and laying hands over her small frame as we cried out that God would do a miracle and spare her life. He has done more than that. He has given her new life as she was placed in the hands of Place of Rescue and since then she has been cared by a house mum who looks over several orphaned babies.

I have had the privilege of seeing her last year and hope to do so again when I am there this summer---it is a privilege indeed---to see the broken be restored, to see the forgotten become the chosen and to see that the Lord lift up the weak and demonstrate that His grace is sufficient for them. The staff at Place of Rescue mentioned that children born with spina bifida usually are paralyzed from the waist down, but Neang Rua is able to sit up on her own. She is eating well and she is a happy girl. That is a glimpse of the miracle that the Lord is doing in this little one’s life. A miracle that I sense and suspect will continue as she grows older. She is a living testimony that there is no life so broken or so‘disabled’ that God cannot resurrect and transform.  When I saw her last summer, she was smiling. In fact, I was told that she smiles often. It is evident that the joy of the Lord is her strength, that He has put His joy in her so deeply.

 Each day when I open my bible, I look at her photo  --- she is a reminder to me, that every life matters to God, no one , no baby is a ‘throw away’---He does not forget the weak, the defenseless and the vulnerable because He has shaped and formed them and has made them in His image. I can’t wait to see how Neang Rua will grow up. I often pray that she will be a prophethess for the Lord, one who will not only display His splendour but who will demonstrate to the world that God’s power is manifested in the weak! Thank You Lord for Neang Rua, for blessing us with her life! She truly is a special gift from You!