TIMING
I have been trying to find the words to explain my journey on how the Lifehouse clinic started. The words just were not there until recently. I hope this story not only gives you the background of where the clinic started but the understanding of God’s timing in our lives.
Prior to the opening of the clinic let me go back a couple years, to bring you all up to date. It was about 3 years, I believe since I have been to Guatemala. This place changed my life extensively. I had been feeling urges to do things but walking in circles trying to figure them out. I was given the opportunity to travel to Guatemala to see patient’s and worship Jesus. When I signed up I felt all the feelings of I am doing something great for these people… So typical, to think what I was doing was to benefit myself or to look good on a resume…. Little did I know the lord had bigger plans for that week. Once we arrived we had a few days to get to know the others in our group and get organized for the week. We saw many people at different villages over the course of the week. Towards the end of the week, I was asked to stop at a house on our way to our construction day, to see a little girl who had been ill. The little girl and her father, are pictured in the above picture of this blog. Arriving to their home on a dirt hill with a tin roof and dirt floors, I saw a small child laying on the ground. This obviously was not a normal house call for myself. The small girl did not speak English or understand what I was trying to ask her. As, I examined her she had crackles in her lungs a high fever and a horrible cough. I was told she had been ill for several weeks, with no healthcare or medicine or anything else even available until we arrived at their home. After I examined her I asked if their was a clinic around that she could go to, she needed stronger medication then what we had. Scooping her off the dirty floor, no socks or shoes, and crying the girl and her father came with us. I quickly put my socks on her, not sure why looking back she probably thought I was nuts…I guess it made me feel better, not being able to provide any relief at that time or care other than socks. We had to drive to drop off the others to the construction site, then spent all day driving to the clinic to get the medication she needed. I can’t even put into words the impact this day had on me. The visual reminders of the clinic, their home, and that little girl will forever be implanted in my mind. If we had not shown up when we did the little girl would of likely died. What I tend to take for granted quickly changed that day, something about that situation hung in my mind as we returned to the states. It was the thought of the timing if we had not shown up when we did, she could of died from one of the most common illnesse,s that I see everyday in the states in my patient’s. The timing is all I could focus on the amazement that the lord put me there for that very reason.
As, time went on I went back to ignoring his call as usual. I was too busy that was a life changing event and was great but now back to my reality, what every that was at the time. Fast forward to early spring of 2019 when gods timing returned.
I would say I was struggling with my relationship with god at this time, early spring 2019 and had been for a while. It was at that time, I felt the timing again. It was time for what I had been prepared for, the lord was revealing it right before me. I could not avoid the timing anymore, so that is where the clinic began. This has been one of the most humbling things I have ever done and learned from. The amount of time,prayer, and work that has been put into the clinic by everyone involved is nothing short of amazing. It just all fell together, there was no stopping his amazing timing this time.
At that very moment there was no talking myself out of gods plan. How amazing to think how all this came together at the exact right time. I can’t wait to see, what the lord has in store for the Lifehouse clinic. I know one thing is certain that you can’t escape the lords timing. Please pray for the clinic and it’s future. What are your timing stories or what are your dreams that you have? Comment below to share your thoughts.
Stacie Householder
DFM Team Member