Inspiring Grace

As soon as my friend Harriet entered my cabin I could clearly see something was on her mind. She's so amazing and she inspires me. Everytime I think I'm having a hard day I take a moment to consider how challenging her days are. As she leaves the ship every morning she goes out into the heat and sits with patients as they face the reality that they are dying. She is the last person they see as they leave the Screening Gates. Many leave holding an appointment card, full of hope. Sadly there are always those we cannot help; she has to comfort them as they grapple with the truth that their physical conditions are terminal. She is priviledged to meet with them in their homes (which are sometimes situated on the sides of mountains and require walking through valleys). With this comes discomfort as she walks head on into their culture and ways, equipped with prayer and pain medication to help soothe their pain. She is our ships hospital Palliative Care nurse.

She began to share how today had been unexpected as she sat opposite a dying man who was a known rebel leader during the war that tore apart Sierra Leone. As her translator Esther began to speak to him a revelation came over her also and she turned to my friend Harriet and said "I know this man! he was one of the main Rebel Leaders in my province. I managed to escape with my parents but my Grandmother was too frail to come with us and she was raped by the rebels as they came through my village". Her translator spoke with grace and care. Later she told Harriet "I have forgiven, but I cannot forget". He admitted to them he was too ashamed and scared to return to his village and family because of all he did through the war. This man dying all alone in a small room haunted with the memories of war crimes that he carried out and ordered from his child soldiers beneath him. As she told me this I was filled with emotions, they flew around me and I couldn't pin any of them down. Rage was there but also deep saddness and compassion. All I could think of was Salimatou (I shared about her in a previous blog) and how her life was changed in just a moment. How she had to deal daily with her amputated legs and the rebels cruel acts .

This man has chosen to return to his village and his family to die. Harriet and Esther have shown him God's love as they sat with him and listened to his heart. Esther the translator extended grace as she voiced before they left "I know what you have done, I know who you are but I also know that the past is the past and is also forgiven". The power of those words struck me. Grace is forgiving those who don't deserve to be forgiven. I find it amazing and challenging to my core to witness it being extended to this man.