Hearing God Call

I am no stranger to the notion of listening for God to guide the way. Many of us have heard the advice: if you are still and quiet enough, you can hear Him calling to you, telling you the right thing to do. Yet for all the times I heard this counsel and thought I understood what it meant, I never actually experienced it. Needless to say, I was quite confused when I finally did hear Him calling, and He told me something that was not only surprising, it seemed downright ridiculous. Seven months after graduating from college, He told me He needs me to become a doctor so I may help provide care to those in our world who do not have access to medicine or healthcare. God, you’re crazy! I said, Sure, I’d love to do that, but it’s too late, I already finished school. Why don’t you pick someone else, someone younger, someone stronger? But He persisted, and as the idea sank in, I realized He had been sending me signs for the past two years. So here I am now, back in school studying pre-med. And He didn’t stop the instructions there; He told me in order to truly fulfill and understand this huge redirection of my life, I needed to go to South Africa with Hopewell this summer. So with the help of Hopewell’s loving and benevolent congregation, here I am for these two weeks, in South Africa. Reflecting on my scholarly journey now, I have an ever-deeper appreciation for the educational opportunities I’ve been granted. We have seen on this trip how education is one of the only ways to break the cycle of poverty ensnaring the people of Ikageng. So many of the children here stop going to school at a very young age, while some never even start school. At the same time, we have witnessed inspiring examples of how school can release them from the socioeconomic trap they are in.

Once you start listening to God, you realize He really likes to drive a point home. Moment after profound moment on this trip, I see and hear why God instructed me in the way he did. I have learned so much from Meyer and all of those at Mosaic about the healthcare needs of South Africa, from treatment to prevention to education. Today was an exceptionally special day for me because Jordan and I took a leave from the work site to visit a nearby medical clinic in the township. South Africa is home to a 5800-bed hospital – the largest hospital in the world – which we passed on our tour of Soweto the other day. This clinic is not that hospital. It is the place where people from the township walk to for treatment because they cannot afford transport to a hospital. There are no ambulances in the event of an emergency. Often people are too ill or injured to even make it to the clinic, or resist going because of the difficult process of getting there. The clinic has four professional nurses and one doctor, who stops by to treat patients on an irregular basis since he splits his time between several clinics. The doctor was not there on the day we visited, so the waiting room was not as full as it is on days when he’s there. On those busy days, patients spill out of the building onto benches outside and when those fill, onto the street. Topping the list of illnesses they treat are HIV/AIDS and TB – illnesses that we in the US can easily take for granted as ones we will probably never experience.

We learned that the clinic used to provide food to the patients, especially those taking ARVs for HIV/AIDS (you cannot take this medicine without food). Unfortunately, without warning, their food donor pulled out and consequently the clinic has lost many of their patients. Their goal now is to plant a garden on the property so they can grow their own food to provide to the patients. Touched by this predicament and supportive of their self-reliant plan, Jordan and I decided to bring them some compost, vegetable seeds, and tools to help get their garden started. It was an uplifting end to a heavy afternoon, as we bonded with the staff and saw how excited they were by our gesture. Another lovely moment came when we were chatting with the staff and one woman told us that she recognized us. Our group attended a church service in the township last Sunday, and it turns out that she worships at that church and saw us last week. We told her how much we enjoyed the beautiful music and service; she told us how happy they were to have visitors. It was so special to feel that interconnection with the people of Potchefstroom and Ikageng, and see a bit of the reverberations that our visit may have. God is truly making connections, warming hearts, and changing lives for all who are touched by this trip – and for all those who hear Him call.

--Natalie Bezgin