Our God Still Moves Mountains
We live in what has been called the “Caribbean Alps,” which means we are daily surrounded by mountains. I look out my barred windows every day while washing dishes and see the southern mountains. Here we say things like, “I went down the mountain today…” when we leave town. The mountains are a real, physical presence in our daily lives here, which often keeps God’s ability to move spiritual mountains more present in my mind.
A few weeks ago on a Tuesday morning I started my quiet time with the Lord in 1 Samuel chapter 3 using a devo from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Samuel is being called by the Lord and Eli teaches Samuel to reply, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” In this devo, Oswald says, “Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life will become a romance (1 Samuel 3:9). Every time circumstances press in on you, say, “Speak, Lord,” and make time to listen.” Little did I know, this would become the pattern of my week over some unique circumstances I was petitioning the Lord about. You speak, Lord, I listen.
That same Tuesday afternoon, news arrived from a Dominican friend (“Manuel”) that his mom’s right eye had been severely damaged by out of control arterial pressure induced by diabetes and was operating at 10%, and the left eye was being impacted as well. Without rapid medical intervention, she was in extreme danger of losing her vision. The day before, I had considered joining them at the doctor’s office to offer my support, as I am friends with both of them, but felt strongly that God was telling me to stay home. So here I was at home, just the Lord and I, starting to feel a little panic. What was I supposed to do….if anything?? Mike and I didn’t have the money to help with this need after handling all of my own medical issues with my gallbladder in December and January. And I already knew that this was going to be a pricey situation. And yet I also knew the dire financial situation of my frail, 108 pound, 59 year old friend (let’s call her “Mama”). Mama lives alone in the countryside in a small shack, no running water, pit toilet, surviving on the equivalent of $28 dollars each month and whatever fruits and vegetables neighbors bring her. I began to tell the Lord, “this is YOUR problem (as if He didn’t already know!), YOU are going to have to figure this out….Speak, Lord!!”
It was in the quiet of staying home that day that He very specifically told me to contact a certain friend. And the incredible thing is, I had only recently reconnected with this friend through the course of my Mom’s death. After almost 20 years of lost contact, she reached out to share her condolences and it was as if we had never skipped a beat. As we caught up on life, she told me to keep her in mind if there was ever a need that arose that we needed help with in our work here in the DR. Though I had completely forgotten about this, the Lord very clearly reminded me as I petitioned Him to “speak.” My friend responded that she was indeed willing to help, and I literally went to my knees and thanked the Lord for bringing something sweet out of the excruciating pain of my Mom’s death. I had a sense that He was going to use this gift to restore sight to the almost blind. It was the kind of thing my Mom would have absolutely loved, especially with all of her own work in benevolence ministries.
The next morning (Wednesday), my friend’s generous gift arrived. I was on cloud nine! Because, you see, what was unfolding was so much bigger than providing medical aid to Mama. There were parts of me that had literally been feeling dead for so long. We had entered the valley of the shadow with my Mom starting in February 2023 at the news that another treatment had stopped working and the tumors in her lungs had grown 20% larger. This was the beginning of one wave of HARD after the other. Things big and small—the scare of my own breast biopsy (cancer free, praise Jesus!!), the oftentimes heartache of full time ministry, watching my sweet Mom slowly dying before my eyes all summer long, a partially torn meniscus, seemingly endless car repairs due to developing world roads, various illnesses, 3 trips to Oregon in 7 months to serve my family, gallstones—I could not escape this valley, no matter how hard I fought for and begged Jesus for higher ground. I had even very intentionally thanked the Lord for ALL He had allowed to pass through His hands into my life, thanking Him it had been THESE things and not other things, thanking Him for the protection over the 4 of us. But after literally 12 straight months of this, and the most recent 8 week battle with extreme fatigue and abdominal issues with my gallbladder, a deep discouragement settled over me. Then a subtle distance slowly developed between the Lord and me. Had He forgotten me? I had trusted Him in everything during the past 12 months, including flying to Oregon alone the day my Mom died, dangerously racing to the airport in the middle of the night when it’s really not safe to do that here, trusting in His sovereignty that I didn’t make it back to her bedside like I always imagined I would. But like a 12 month weary traveler, I had nothing left. I wondered if the Lord cared about what was happening to me and what was the purpose in all of this? Was there something I was not learning that I needed to learn? I had been feeling useless. Sidelined. For SO long.
When Manuel came to our house later Wednesday afternoon, the joy in my heart was already spilling over. I told him, “God is going to move this mountain!” Thinking back to my Sunday school days of singing, “He owns the cattle on a 1,000 hills…,” I shared, “if it’s money that we need, God has a lot of money!” (Dios tiene muchísimo dinero!) He burst into tears.
Like a wilted flower receiving fresh water, I began to feel alive again. God was beautifully reminding me that my heart sings loudest when I am serving. Someone once prayed over me and said, “Melissa, you were made to give your life away.” I believe it. There is nothing that makes me more joyful than being His hands and feet, which is why I had become so discouraged after so much time feeling sidelined. I do know that He never “needs” me, but I’m so very thankful when He chooses to use me.
Thursday, Manuel and Mama transferred care from the primary doctor who is generally managing her diabetes to an ophthalmologist and discovered that things were worse than they thought. The right eye pressure was at 70 (normal is 10 – 20), full of broken capillaries and needed an injection immediately or she would lose the eye. This would either be the first of five injections per eye OR a combination of injections with laser surgery. I immediately felt overwhelmed upon learning that each injection is $172. We were now looking at anywhere from $1,500 – $2,000 with procedures, co-pays, eye drops… Yesterday’s mountaintop faith began to falter…Do you really have this much money, God?? “Speak, Lord!” I heard Him telling me, “Espera.” (Wait.) Mike and I felt zero clarity at this point but both knew the Lord was asking us to wait upon Him and take it one step at a time.
Friday I joined Mama and Manuel at the doctor’s office. My heart flooded with compassion as I saw the exhaustion over both of them as I entered the room. We received the good news that the pressure in her right eye had dropped from 70 to 25 overnight from the first injection, so she was now a candidate for three sessions of laser and then injections in the left eye. More praying and waiting.
Saturday I felt God giving me the green light to follow up with a second friend He had placed upon my heart. This friend wanted to cover one of the three laser treatments, thank you, Jesus!
“And now what, Lord? What do you want me to do now? Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” “Use your voice.” Gulp. What does that mean? “Lord, you know I don’t like to ask for money, even for someone else. And I’ve already done it twice now. Really??” He just kept saying, “Use your voice.” As I waited for more direction, I went about my day and as the evening drew near, God planted a very strong desire to call my Dad. I even tried to reason with God, as I was in the middle of something, and ask if I could finish my task. “Nope, call now.” I went to text my Dad about calling in a few minutes and he told me that he was at band practice for church. So I said, “that’s fine, we can talk tomorrow.” Then I thought, what was that all about? Why the urgency? And shrugged my shoulders. I continued to think and pray about how God might want me to “use my voice,” thinking maybe I should talk with our local pastor after church the next day. A while later, Mike and Brennan left to pick up Ava, leaving me in a quiet house. God gently urged me to come and pray, getting on my knees before Him. I prayed for several situations, including Mama. God instructed me to reach back out to my Dad and see if he might be willing to be the extension of my voice at his church that night. Maybe there was one or two people there who might consider helping? I almost felt bad asking him to do that, as it was minutes before the service was starting, and I was thinking, it’s probably too late, all the while reminded of just how much I don’t like asking for money. I shared that we roughly needed $913 just for treatments, not including meds, drops, etc. from the updated info I’d been given. Word came back that there would be a special offering taken. My heart leapt for joy and was excited to watch God work again. Mike, the kids and I stopped to pray. We texted Manuel to pray. Before we could think much more, we were blown away to learn that $1,000 had been promised. One. thousand. dollars. I started to cry…“God, you DO have muchisimo dinero.” We called Manuel and he was grateful beyond words. Mike, he and I prayed together, a prayer of thanksgiving to God for moving this mountain, for making a way when it seemed like there wasn’t one, for caring for one of the least of these.
I ended this special week experiencing the very romance with Jesus that Chambers had mentioned in his devo. The Lord knew I needed to be part of this process for my own faith. I needed to reconnect with Him after a year of weariness, to hear His voice so sharp and clear, to move a spiritual mountain in my own life, to be blessed just as much as Mama in this process. Thank you, Lord, that You are Faithful, even when my own faith falters.
And Mama? Earlier this week she received her third and final laser treatment in her right eye, though this also came with the difficult news that her pressures were back up to 70. She received another right eye injection for these pressures and is waiting to see if she will need to have surgery as well. Laser treatment will also begin in her left eye soon. She still has a very long way to go, but we continue to trust and petition our Mountain Mover for complete restoration of her vision if it is His will to do so.