WE’RE IN HEIDI’S NEW BOOK

By Jessica on January 29, 2022

Last year Heidi Baker Interviewed us for her new Devotional book, ‘God’s Got This’.

There, we shared about trusting God on the mission field as a family through sickness and uncontrollable circumstances.

She asked us about 2019, when we were air evacuated from Mozambique to South Africa due to Grace, at 11 months old, being unwell and us not being able to get a diagnosis.

You can read the summerly in the book but here is some insight into the story…

We had just experienced our first cyclone, James was working with our team as a first responder and a few months in Grace was experiencing high fevers and fatigue. Test after test we couldn’t get clarity – it wasn’t malaria, typhoid, cholera, or meningitis… And any treatment from our extremely talented pediatric Dr from the UK, wasn’t showing improvement. We needed answers but there wasn’t the resources to get them in our little African town.

We wanted to respond to her needs but not react in fear. By this I mean, not letting fear dictate, discourage and overwhelm us – but instead trusting God and responding from faith and peace while making the best decision as parents for her health.

We made the decision to go to South Africa and was emergency evacuated on a private plane to the Johannesburg airport.

There they discovered a water bourn parasite that was in her bladder causing the infection.

She was hospitalized for a week and then we remained in South Africa for the month as an outpatient, getting follow-up treatment.

It’s easy to be consumed by worry and fear when you’re in a situation like this. Gut reaching to see your own baby unwell and to feel so helpless. But, we have a God who sees and cares. No matter what the outcome, we didn’t want to bow our knee to fear, but put our trust and hope in a God who walks with us through the good times and the challenges of life. There is more to the story but you can read that in the Book!

This experience gave us radical empathy and grew our compassion for children in undeveloped countries who have little access to medical assistance. We were privileged that we could just get on a plane and go elsewhere for help. But as reassuring as that is, it also makes us feel sick… that isn’t a privilege that other families have, and their children are just as priceless and important as ours. We are forever thankful to God that he faithfully stepped in and our daughter recovered quickly. This has given us greater focus, vision, and determination to help people who lack the basic resources that other richer countries can take for granted.

It’s especially overwhelming seeing Grace hug this book to her chest, showing off the title, “God’s Got This”. It’s a reminder that God has her. He has our son and our little family in his hands. He has us all. Even though the storms, he wants to walk with us and be our strength and hope.

One thing we know is, trials cultivate our character and our hearts. As Heidi writes in her book, “they strengthen our perseverance, mature our faith and give us greater hope, just as the book of James teaches”.

James 1:2-4 – Faith and Endurance

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Well done Laura Taranto, Heidi, and the team who put this together. It’s such a beautifully crafted book, full of encouraging and moving stories. It’s such a treasure to read more of our friend’s faith journeys that are also featured and to even see some of our photos put to use in sharing these stories.