On the day you were born, your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean…No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field….Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and…I said to you “Live!”….I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine. ~from Ezekiel 16~
From the moment we received precious, tiny, 1-day-old Naomi into AGC Baby Centre, I just started praying for her. As she was passed into my hands from the children’s officer yesterday evening, she was so tiny and still. I saw immediately that she had not been washed after birth and was still covered in blood, etc. She had been found by good Samaritans in an open field, kicking around in the blood and mud. It was clear by her stillness and blueness that she had not been fed and had been left in the cold. I didn’t know what else to pray, except to utter the name of Jesus over her.
I took her into the nurse’s station for her initial exam, continuing to pray the name of Jesus over her. The ladies who had found her were requesting that we return to them the shawls they had used to cover her. I took those covers off, and as Naomi lay there, naked and covered in blood, I quickly replaced her covers with a thick, warm quilt (one that I’m sure was made by one of our special partners and sent to AGC Baby Centre for just such a time). Seeing the blanket cover over her, the Lord instantly brought this passage from Ezekiel 16 to my mind, and I knew He was there. It was one of those moments where the spirit of a human somehow resonates with the Spirit of our Father, and I could sense He was right there with us, with Naomi, pulling for her and saying to her, “Live!”
What a privilege to see our nurse as she washed Naomi—to witness the gentleness, genuine care, and dedication of those who work alongside us at AGC Baby Centre. What a joy to choose warm clothes from our storeroom to cover Naomi and to know that another partner had brought that article of clothing just for babies in situations like Naomi’s. As I snapped up her sleeper embroidered with “Daddy Loves Me,” I nearly wept at the sweet promise of Abba Father for Naomi—that she is NOT without a father, because He has already made a covenant with her and says “You are mine”! What a blessing to check on her later and to see the time, effort, and care that one caregiver used the whole night through just to make sure that Naomi was warm and full and safe!
Oh, the sweetness of those moments when Jesus brings everything together at just the right time for His purposes! For those of you who have made quilts and blankets, or knitted sweaters and caps to keep babies warm—THANK YOU for being a part of God’s covenant with Naomi! For those of you who have donated clothing or given up luggage space to carry donations while on a work team—THANK YOU for being a part of God’s covenant with Naomi! For those of you who have given financially so that our nurses and other staff can be paid to work alongside us—THANK YOU for being a part of God’s covenant with Naomi! For all of you who pray and weep and rejoice with us at the redemption of each baby—THANK YOU for being a part of God’s covenant with Naomi! Because of what God has done through each of you, babies like Naomi can truly LIVE!
I know this update is so much longer than normal, but I am overwhelmed this day at our Father and His work, and so very humbled at how God has brought all of us together for the sake of these precious ones and His covenant with them. Even more than that, I am overwhelmed at how Abba Father has made the same covenant with each of us. As I consider myself, kicking around in the filth of my own sin before Jesus came, I am so grateful for His covenant to make me His own. I am so thankful that He wants me to LIVE and to live abundantly! As we see Jesus redeeming lives like Naomi’s, may He make real to us the truth that what He does for their physical lives, He does for each one of our souls.
Thankful today for the very real presence of Abba Father,
Staci Keter
Director
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