Adapted from a recent report by Alliance worker Esther Schaeffer, serving in Bobo-Dioulasso (Bobo), Burkina Faso
Death casts a long shadow in Burkina Faso. We often see this on our weekly ministry trips to the local hospital, a crossroads for peoples of many ethnic backgrounds and religions.
Working alongside the hospital chaplain, members of our Bobo team and several Christian Burkinabè women walk through the wards, praying for the sick.
Our practice is to not pray over someone unless we are asked. Being sensitive to the various faiths represented at the hospital is vital to ensuring a long-term ministry.
He Leads Us
The Lord consistently guides our team to those who need healing and family members who require some encouragement. We also have witnessed some incredible miracles.
A few weeks ago when we entered one of the wards, we greeted a father and mother at their son’s bedside. We continued walking past the long line of beds and stopped to pray for a believer, a woman who attends one of our Alliance churches.
On our way out we noticed the young man was not accepting the water his parents offered him. At the doorway, we paused to decide which ward we would go to next. I saw the couple talking before the mother walked up to us and asked if we would pray for her son.
A Free Gift
She held out a handful of small change—probably the last of the family’s money—and apologized to us that it wasn’t more. We quickly told her to put her money away, explaining that our Lord Jesus had sent us to do this work and the gift He offers to everyone is free.
We then went to the young man’s bedside where long, fervent prayers were uttered on his behalf. I was confident our Heavenly Father had heard our intercessions and was already at work, ready to receive this young man as one of His own.
The Only Name
A few days later, a member of our team called to tell me that the young man had died not five minutes after we had left the room. It was such a disappointment to me—the shadow of death once again had gained the victory, I thought.
But almost at the same moment I remembered Romans 10:13, “‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
As death cast its shadow over that young man, he heard the wonderful name of Jesus. He heard—no doubt for the first time—the only name of the One who could save him from eternal darkness and usher him to where the light always shines.
I don’t know what he decided in those last minutes of his life. But I do know the Lord Jesus led us to the hospital that day and to this young man’s bedside. Through our prayers, we were privileged to shine the Light of Life upon him as he passed under the shadow of death.
…on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Matthew 4:16).
Pray
Use the weekly Alliance Prayer Requests to join the Alliance family in interceding on behalf of our global teams, who often serve in challenging places that require Holy Spirit–inspired wisdom to share God’s love with peoples who have never been introduced to the Author of Life.