Johannesburg: New Chapter, More Support...

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

1 Cor. 10:13 (KJV)

Dorothy, my sister-in-law, arrived in Johannesburg on the morning of December 23rd. I directed her to the hotel and decided to wait for her so that we could go to the hospital together. As soon as Dorothy saw me, she collapsed into tears. It was quite an emotional moment as we both cried for a while. When she freshened up, we went off to the hospital.

Kechi appeared to have passed a peaceful night. Her blood pressure was fine, temperature normal. 

Dorothy was wonderful. She immediately began to talk to Kechi, reading scripture to her, and even making jokes to her. Kechi responded by moving her head from side to side and we calmed her down.

The sister came in to inform me that Kechi's surgery had been moved up to the afternoon and I had to sign yet another consent form. I noticed that her face and arms were bleeding.

When we left the ICU, we met Kathryn, Sarah's mother. Sarah and Erin and others were in the bus that had an accident in Port Harcourt. We prayed together and encouraged each other. When we got back to the hotel, God moved again.

The front desk called to tell me that they wanted to move me into a room with two beds at the same price, because of Dorothy, and would move me back into a single room when Dorothy left. This was pretty overwhelming to me. I did not know what to say. We moved to the room next door and I simply knelt down and thanked God for His favors...

To be continued...

Then God Started To Move Again...

Upon getting back to the hotel, Elsie called to inform me that her friend, Susan, had called the South African Embassy in Nigeria to arrange for Mike's visa. She asked me for Mike's phone number so she could tell him how to go about it. 

After about thirty minutes, Elsie called back to say that both she and Susan had called Mike and that the Charge d'Affairs of the embassy had also called Mike and told him to forget about getting any letter from Shell for his visa and instead to get to the embassy before 12noon the next day, Friday, December 23rd and collect his visa. They eventually agreed for Tuesday 27th, since Mike would be unable to make it into Lagos before noon because of the Christmas weekend rush at the airports, and Monday 26th was a public holiday.

I was amazed. Mike had been trying so hard to get a letter from Shell that he would take to the embassy to get his visa, and now he was being offered the visa. Could God be any more awesome?

Later as I was praying, I admitted to God that it was very painful seeing Kechi lying there, broken and bruised. Just then I was reminded of His Son on the cross, broken and bruised. I heaved a huge sigh and went to bed...

To be continued...