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> One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the
> cotton wool the baby would be wrapped in.
>
> Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She
> come back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle,
> it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates.
>
> "And it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed.
>
> As in the West it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central
> Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles.
> They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest
> pathways.
>
> "All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely
can;
> sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts.
> Your job is to keep the baby warm."
>
> The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with
> any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave
the
> youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them
> about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby
> warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily
> die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, >
> > crying because her mother had died.
>
> During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with
the
> usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God," she
> prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God,
as > the baby'll Be dead, so please send it this afternoon."
>
> While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added
by
> way of corollary, "And while You are about it, would You please send
a
> dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"
>
> As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I
> honestly say, "Amen?" I just did not believe that God could do this.
> Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything. The Bible says so.
> But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer
this
> particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland.
> I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had
> never, ever received a parcel from home; anyway, if anyone did send
me > a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!
>
> Halfway through he afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses'
> training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front
> door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on
the
> verandah, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking
> my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the > orphanage
children.
>
> Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing
each knot.
> We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement
was
> mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the
large > cardboard box.
>
> From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes
> sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages
for
> the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then
> came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas---that would make a nice
> batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt
> the.....could it really be?
> I grasped it and pulled it out---yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water
> bottle!
>
> I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed
that
> He could.
>
> Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying
> out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!"
> Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small,
> beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted.
>
> Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and
give
> this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really
loves
> her?"
>
> That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up
by my
> former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's
> prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one
of
> the girls had put in a dolly for an African child---five months
> before--- in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to
bring > it "that afternoon."
>