"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.

Craig announced last week that he will be leaving by the end of the month. After much prayer, he feels that this is what God is calling him to do. For the last year, Craig has lived with us and has become like one of our sons. He helps me in the clinic in so many ways, evangelizing, praying for people, leading us in worship and prayer before each clinic day, organizing and managing the corn project, helping with all of the nutrition children, helping in so many ways each day. I have to admit that when he said that he was leaving, I was very sad. My biggest enemy is self-pity and I was wallowing in it last week! The thought of facing over 1,000 patients each month without Craig's help was...and still is, overwhelming.

We do not recruit people to come here but choose to trust that the Spirit of God will draw those that He chooses to come. It is much the same with our financial need. We almost never ask for money, but trust that God will supply for the need by touching hearts to give. There are so many times when we (well, mostly me) want to jump in and take over when it seems that God is slow to answer. But trusting in the Creator of the Universe has always proved to be the best path to follow. And so we trust now, that God will provide someone to fill the gap that Craig will leave. We trust as well, that God will bless Craig in this new direction that he is heading in. Pray for him - and for us - as we walk through these changes.

We will say good-by to the Allison's tomorrow as well. They have been here for the last three weeks helping in so many ways. Don has filled in in the clinic in Katie's absence, Lori has organized our bookwork, and their children have played with ours. They planned their trip many months ago, not knowing when our need in the clinic would be the greatest. But as always, God is faithful to provide exactly what we need, in exactly the right timing. He is so good...always!

Yesterday was our "Sabbath" and as always, it was wonderful to rest and spend time with our family and the Lord. This has been a difficult week for a lot of reasons...but as we set this time apart to pray and reflect on the goodness of the Lord, we find refreshment and strength to start again this week.

Yesterday morning two nurses from the Puesto de Salud (the government clinic here in town) knocked at our gate asking for help with twins that were born early Tuesday morning up in one of the villages. We have been helping them prenatally and with milk for the one year old sister. It seems that mom gave birth in the morning but the placenta did not descend afterward and 12 hours later she died. Her husband is away working on the coast leaving grandma to care for all their children and now these twin babies who seem amazingly, very healthy. It is hard to believe that they did not seek help when mom was hemorrhaging but there is no 911 here and I am sure the grandma had no way of calling for someone to help, nor the means to pay for a rented car to come down to Canilla where someone could have helped them. Senseless...

Then in the afternoon, we received a call from our friend Victor who runs the drug and alcohol rehab center in Quiche. One of the young men who lived there for almost a year...a young man who had recovered from alcohol addiction and whose diabetes had come under control, who had accepted Jesus as his Savior and who had begun to live and work and recuperate...was dead. He started drinking again a week ago and although Victor had chased him down and pleaded with him to return on two different occasions, he did not. He said he didn't want to live. They found him dead on the street yesterday and the autopsy showed that he died of intoxication. Senseless...

Sunday in clinic Armondo and I spent over an hour talking with a woman who has 11 children and is beaten almost daily by her husband. I have known her for several years and never seen her smile. By law here in Guatemala, if she leaves, she will loose the right to her home and she will be destined to live on the street with her 11 children. So she continues to live with the fear that this man may kill her or one of her children. Senseless...

I could go on and on telling stories of the suffering and pain that we are faced with every single day. The weak words of encouragement and the little bit of food or medicine that we offer seem so inadequate in the face of such huge need. But prayers offered up to the Creator of the Universe, to the only One who can bring change...in this we trust that true change can come. In Him we trust that hearts can be healed and pain be relieved...because we know and we rest in the fact that God is a righteous judge who sees and understands. And as I laid all of these - and other situations before the Lord in prayer, I could almost hear Him say, "Be still...and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) We trust that somehow out of all of these "senseless" situations, that He will be exalted, that He will change "mourning into dancing."