What Cause Parallels Your Passion?
By Charles Lloyd of Goddard, KS, USA
So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all….As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. —Galatians 6:9–10, 16 NRSV, adapted
Helen Rogers Lloyd, my mother, graduated in 1926 as a registered nurse in public health. Her 49-year career serving others in the Birmingham, Alabama, area was a continuing journey ministering to others to help them be healthy and free from disease and sickness. When she died in 1992, we wanted to honor her memory through a cause that paralleled her passion for public health issues.
In our conversations with Sherri and Jac Kirkpatrick soon after her death, they described a project for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sherri envisioned training and placing 20 birth attendants in villages to help newborns come into the world with fewer complications and into healthier surroundings.
Today most of the original 20 are still active in the field delivering babies in their villages. In 2013, six of these birth attendants delivered 1,400 babies with no maternal or infant mortalities through early December. What an amazing accomplishment!
(Editor’s note: current statistics for the DR Congo in 2015: the Wasaidizi (health workers) delivered 1,100 babies, continue to care for mothers, teach family planning, and monitor healthy babies. Sherri and her team will conduct training for five more community health workers in the DRC and 20 in Zambia in July 2016.)
Nurse Helen would be so proud of the volunteers’ continued good works and the efforts that Sherri and Jac are doing to help others. We are grateful for HealthEd Connect’s work that wisely invests in projects that provide long-term support to others through support and education.
As today’s scripture passage says, “Whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.” HealthEd Connect offers some of those opportunities at info@healthedconnect.org>” style=”color: #336699;font-weight:normal;text-decoration: underline;”>info@healthedconnect.org.
Prayer for Peace
Compassionate God, stir our hearts to serve you by serving others. Let our voices be comforting and encouraging. Let our actions promote justice and peace.
Spiritual Practice: The International Community
Find (or imagine) a globe or map of the world. Look at all the nations and find a country other than your own. Notice the geographic distance between your homeland and this one. Picture a person living there. Pray for this person. Sense God’s love connecting you just as the oceans connect the continents. Thank God for the spiritual connection you have with all of God’s people around the globe. Ask a blessing on the church as a community sharing Christ’s peace, drawing all into the family of God.
Peace Covenant
Today, God, I will respond to the next opportunity to work for the good of all.