Study #4: Restorative Faith Can Nurse You Back to Health

2 Corinthians 12:9-11 (NIV)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

In Maua, Kenya, we grow a drug that is called miraa (sometimes known as knat). It grows on a tree, and three-to-four-inch long twigs are cut and chewed. Miraa has the same components as amphetamines. Originally, elders used it in special ceremonies, but now it is used widely by the men who grow the miraa in our area. Many of the men chew miraa constantly, which as we have seen causes a variety of problems.

One characteristic of the use of miraa is erratic emotional behavior. Thus, Maua Methodist Hospital’s surgical ward looks much more like a trauma ward than a normal surgical ward. The ward always has many men who have cuts from a panga, which is similar to a machete. Usually the violence is against family members, because of arguments over land and miraa trees. When you walk into one of the male wards you can feel the anger and hate seething from the victims of violence. Often the desire for revenge is their total focus.

Linet Wanja was a 23-year-old mother of two boys and the wife of Ayub. One night, Ayub, after using miraa and drinking alcohol, dragged Linet out of their tiny home and cut her 23 times. Both arms had been severed three to four inches above the wrist, her right foot was dangling by a piece of skin, and there were cuts on her face, ear, back, legs, chest, and head.

After two weeks of intensive care, Linet’s condition stabilized and it was clear she would live. She shared that she had been thinking and praying and had made the decision to forgive her husband. She refused to press charges against him. In my visits with her, I was surprised at her strength, her will to live, her hope, and her
faith in God. Most amazing was her lack of anger, malice, or desire for revenge. There was a quiet, peaceful, even joyful feeling that seemed to permeate Linet’s hospital ward and all those who entered.

Shortly after Linet went home to live with her father, his wife and young child, her two brothers, and her two sons, her father died. Her stepmother soon ran away, taking her child. Due to traditional beliefs, Linet’s brothers could do no personal care for her. Soon her two sons were taken by a nearby orphanage, since Linet could not care for them physically or financially.

Recently, Linet had a thanksgiving service at her church to thank God for all His goodness and love. To see goodness after all the losses, pain, and suffering she has experienced is a miracle. Linet radiates that goodness through her reliance on God’s love. That fateful night, her physical life was changed forever. Spiritually, Linet has been enriched and has grown by overcoming evil actions with love and forgiveness. Linet is a modern-day saint that reminds us who “nothing is impossible with God,” and indeed it is in our weakness that God can show His strength.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

• What choices have you made when you have faced pain and suffering?
• What choices are possible for each of us in the face of pain and suffering?
• How hard is it to admit you are weak and need help?
• Who can help you when you are facing difficult situations and unbearable physical or emotional pain?

Jerri L. Savuto, R.N., Kenya