Prayer Request from a friend

I received an e-mail today from an old friend of mine asking for prayer and I wanted to share the request with you in case you are able to take a minute to pray for this family as well. Amy worked with me at the Seattle Learning Center about 10 years ago, but has gone into full-time mission work since then. She is an amazing woman and I have no doubt that she has touched many, many lives in her work in South America.

Here is her request:

Dear Friends,

I had gone to bed tonight but I just couldn't stop thinking about this prayer request. . .I kept thinking, if I really believe in prayer and the power that the prayers of many can have, then I can't wait another minute to send this out.

Yesterday I was coming out of a meeting at the Children's Hospital here when a man approached me. He kind of scared me but he said, "Amy, do you remember me?" It took me a second, but I did remember him. I quickly realized that he was the husband of a woman named Rosa that used to work for my friend Ruth and her husband. I also quickly realized that if they were at Bloom (the Children's Hospital), then something was probably gravely wrong. But, I hadn't seen them in about two years, so we exchanged greetings and then he tried to tell me what was happening without letting on to the desperation of their situation. By the end of our conversation he was in tears.

Margarita, their 3 year old daughter had been in the hospital for 10 days and at that point they had diagnosed her with profound anemia. Today though, they learned that she has leukemia.

Rosa and Guillermo were incredibly kind to me in the first few months of my time here. We shared meals together, we laughed over my broken spanish, we talked about the difficulties of life here. I know that it was no coincidence that I just happened to be walking out of that hospital yesterday at the exact time that they were exchanging clean clothes for Rosa who is having to take care of Margarita in the hospital as it is the responsibility of the family to find blood donors, bathe the children, and even help with injections, etc. . . I also doubt that it is a coincidence that I have this empty house right now, less than a 20 minute walk from the hospital.

I don't know what you do for a family that has received such crushing news. But, I think that you believe for them when they can't believe. You hope for them when they cannot hope. You pray for them when they cannot pray. You make a space for them to weep or to be angry or to just be away. You walk with them. And I think, you do anything you can to make sure that that baby stays alive.

So, that is what I am going to do. My request is that you would do those things with me, the ones that you can from far away. Please pray for them, and for me, that I would know what to do to support them through this time. Honestly my first response was, "I don't want to get over involved in this. This could be an unending need." But you know, I have to remember what God taught me a long time ago: He can't ask us to do something and not provide all that we need to do it.

Thank you for your prayers,
Amy