HOPING FOR A HEARTBEAT

In a small village in Kenya, she walked slowly the five miles to the local clinic with a prayer being uttered quietly from her lips. She was worried because she had not felt the baby move in a few days. She was hoping for a heartbeat. She did not share this information with her husband who had walked down this path of miscarriage before. She paused from prayer and thought: "If it happens again, will he still keep me?" By tradition he could set her aside and give his affection to another if she did not bare him a child.  She looked up at a herd of cattle and saw a small calf only a few weeks old and a tear came to her eye.  In nature it was just natural for babies to come. It wan't suppose to be hard. She was hoping for a heartbeat. The prayers came again. As she passed a small compound a woman came out to greet her surrounded with several small children. She said she had no time to stop and talk today and left quickly knowing that her friend had no idea the pain that came from seeing her with her many little ones. She was hoping for a heartbeat.  She got to the clinic and was told to sit and wait on a little bench with the other women.  She wondered how many of them were there for the same reason but no one would speak of it. It was shameful to be barren in Africa...maybe the sign of a curse. Didn't the Bible say that God commanded "to be fruitful and multiply?" She was hoping for a heartbeat.  The doctor called her in to his office and asked her to sit on the wooden table. She did not even explain her worry to him. She just waiting for him to examine her as she was hoping for a heartbeat.  She was anxious as he put the scope on her belly. She held her breath to make sure he could hear. The doctor looked at her with a strange look on his face and she thought the worse. He said, "I hear your heart beating rapidly please calm yourself" and he put the scope back on her stomach. She tried to relax. Without looking up he said the words she wanted so desperately to hear, "You have a fine baby heart beat in there." He said more but she did not hear because her hope for a heartbeat had been realized and nothing else mattered.

In 1 Corinthians 9:10, Paul wrote: "...he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope."  This text speaks to me on many levels but today as I read it I thought why do I continue to work to help people know Christ by providing for their spiritual and physical needs?  It is because I am "hoping for a heartbeat".  I look at the world around me especially Kenya, Africa and I want to produce children for God. I don't want to be embarrassed by my barrenness.  I pray, I see, I worry, I doubt but in the end I hope because I want to be a partaker of His hope.

What are you hoping for today?  The Hope Foundation could use your prayers and even your financial support. Thanks to those who have given already...it has given hope to many. But there are others who need help to just live so that they can hear the Gospel message. Would you hope for a heartbeat with me?