I got to attend my first birth here in Africa on Good Friday.
As I gathered with new friends and a Spirit Filled Family in a local private hospital, I couldn't help but wonder how the Lord put us all together.
It was as if we had known each other for a long time however it has only been weeks and most of the family I met that day.
There is something about birth that does that. You get to know people really quick in an intimate way that many don't experience in lifelong friendships or even among relatives. And, I'm not talking about the intimacy with the parents necessarily, but about the rest of the family who surrounds them.
I think that is just one of the many reasons why being a birth doula is so special to me. I love real relationships and you can't fake feelings when it has to do with birth!
There were tears of joy and prayers and hands held as hearts were trusting God and a beautiful baby entered into a loving family.
I heard testimonies of God's faithfulness during birth from other women and shared testimonies of Gods sovereignty and grace.
That part of this experience I will forever cherish and it felt just like the other births I've attended in the States. The new parts are unforgettable as well and I'll try and write a bit about here- briefly...
I traveled across my city in the dark to an unknown address by a private hire car, despite the terrorist threats permeating our city. That, is new.
I didn't have my doula partner Karen beside me who usually goes with me but I knew she would be praying without ceasing nine thousand miles away. Her prayers I can always count on but her being so far away I haven't gotten used too yet. That is new.
I traveled later to the hospital with daddy to be driving through streets unfamiliar to me and while at a stop light had my window rolled down with a homeless mother wearing her baby reaching into my car begging for help while mommy to be was laboring in back seat. I will never forget that. Too many emotions to describe, even still, days later. New feelings I can't adequately describe- impaled again with compassion and yes, that was new.
The hospital was quiet and I quickly smiled at everyone I met. Not because I was nervous but rather because I knew God was up to something beyond a birth of a baby- and I didn't know what it was- I think I do now, Maybe-
Maybe He wanted to show me that I'm His and
Maybe He wanted to remind me that without a doubt I am supposed to be here (Africa) because pretty much everyone welcomed me and told me how glad they were I was there,
Maybe He wanted to stretch my faith because I didn't have internet (forgot my hot spot) and it was just me and Him, not me and my Rudy or me and my girls, just me and Him,
Maybe He wanted to remind me that all the promises I share with others I am just beginning to learn in new, stronger ways,
Maybe He wanted to teach me again to speak softly, in love and without fear to generations of people who had soft hearts, His words, not mine,
Maybe He wanted my heart to be so overwhelmed at the sight of new parents trusting JESUS for their first baby or maybe, just maybe, He wanted a beautiful young lady to watch and listen throughout the afternoon to what He was doing through all of us believing in Him that she ended up recommitting her life to Christ right there in the waiting room.
He wanted His glory to be seen.
He wanted her to be His and He wanted to show me that He is able and always beckoning us towards Him, that being a doula is so much less about being beside and serving a mother and so much more about Him being by our side as we serve Him.
Yes, birth.
As we say in the doula world, "a lot more than a baby comes out at birth."
When it was all over and my family arrived to pick me up in the dark of night beneath lightning skies, I told an auntie how grateful I was to be there with them on Good Friday.
And she smiled and again thanked me and said, "do you hear? Do you hear what everyone in the hospital is saying about you?"
"No, what are they saying?"
"They are calling you the Praying Mzungu!"
I've been called many things in many places by many people.
But this, "the praying white person" I'll take it- with a glad and sincere heart.
"And the Angels rejoice..."
