she's still alive

Thank you all for your prayers for Hourey yesterday & today. The Lord answered them in that she is still alive. I don't know if I can quite communicate to you what I saw today but I will surely try.


When we arrived, I immediately headed for Hourey's house & her mom greeted me & showed me to where Hourey was at. I don't think I was quite prepared for what my eyes were about to behold because, when I saw her, all I could do was weep & weep. Of course, in the Songhai culture, no one cries over anything ... life, death, sickness, nothing. Hourey's mom told me to stop crying (& also proceeded to tell everyone who came in after me that I was crying). I told her I would NOT stop crying because Hourey is my friend!

Y'all, when I said goodbye to Hourey just a few weeks ago (when she was at the hospital in Niamey), she was walking & talking & even joking a little bit. Although she was skinny as a rail from being sick for 2 months, she was regaining her health & there was a light in her eyes. What I saw before me today was a woman who was ghastly thin, whose veins protruded from underneath her skin, who could not speak, who had no mind to know that I was less than a foot from her & that I was grasping her hands in mine. This was one of my dearest friends dying right before my eyes & my heart could not handle it. Even as I type this, I still ache at the possibility of never seeing her again on this side of creation.



I asked her mom why she wouldn't allow Hourey to go to Niamey to see another doctor. Again, I just don't understand their mentality because her response was, "What can they do for her now? It's in God's hands." Indeed it is but, as I continued to hold Hourey's hands, I prayed & prayed for God to heal her right then & there.



Ibrahim (her husband) asked for our help in trying one more try at getting her medicine. He went to another city about an hour away & purchased what he hopes will help her. When we spoke to him after arriving home today, he said he had also just returned home & was administering the medicine to her.


We cannot even begin to thank you for your prayers for this dear woman & her family. Her mom, who is not a believer, has even said she is thankful for all of the prayers. Please, please continue to pray for Hourey. We know and believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that God can indeed heal her (with or without medicine) and He can restore her to full health. Whether He does or not, He is still God & He has a plan for Hourey's life. We trust Him in that. But we will still pray, until God shows us otherwise, for her to be healed.


Thank you again & we will continue to update the blog with any new information.