The last 3 weeks they've asked us to pray for this family:
The little girl on the left is named Bianca. For the last 3 weeks she has fought the disease called dengue fever. If you don't know anything about it then you need to do a little research on the internet. It's a disease that is carried by mosquitos and its a yearly battle fought by many cities in Brasil. It's something that affects tropical countries and even though our city has four seasons, the health officials will, from time to time, come to our home to make sure that the houses in our neighborhood are doing all that's possible to prevent the spread of this disease. There is even a Brasilian website that tells you how to prevent dengue, where outbreaks have occurred, videos, etc. It's a bad disease that affects many people each year.
Yesterday Bianca lost her battle with dengue. She was only 7.
I can't even imagine what that would be like.
We received an encouraging email from Chris and Teresa today about Bianca's death. Some people might have a hard time thinking how news like this could encourage brothers and sisters in Christ. Bianca's family are believers. Their response to this terribly sad news was incredible to read. Chris and Teresa's comments were uplifting to us as well. With Chris and Teresa's permission I am posting their email below. Please pray for Bianca's family: her dad (Duda), her mom (Branca) and her older sister (Brenda-9 years old).
Here's their email:
Paradise belongs to Bianca
After 3 weeks of fighting infections in her body, Bianca is now at peace, free from pain and suffering, and safe in the arms of Jesus. She died Saturday morning around 10 AM. The funeral will be Sunday morning at 9 AM. We were riding in our car across town when we received the call from a brother. We went directly to the hospital to be with Duda and Branca. What can you say? What can you do? We cried, we listened, and we cried some more.
I was moved by something Duda did right before Regis (one of the leaders of Boa Vista) prayed: Duda worshiped God. He sang a song by himself. We listened. The song expressed trust in God. I thought, "How many parents would worship God after their child has died?" We were definitely standing on holy ground. After he finished, he said, "The kingdom of heaven belongs to children; Jesus welcomed Bianca. I don't understand God's ways, but I trust Him. God knows what is best for our family."
Both Duda and Branca expressed to us just how much the cards, phone calls, letters, emails, and the prayers from all of our brothers and sisters all over the world meant to them. Teresa printed out several and gave them to them. They told me to tell you: "Your prayers encouraged us and we thank God for you." Please continue to pray God will comfort them.
We all wrestle with prayer for healing, don't we? Why does God choose not to heal sometimes? There are no easy answers. Does it mean God is not powerful enough to heal? No. Does it mean that we did not have enough faith (as the false health/wealth gospel teaches?) or that we didn't pray enough? No, of course not. Prayer is not manipulating God to get Him to do what we want but to trust Him and say, "You know what is best." We don't know why, but we don't see the "Big Picture" either. God does. As Job learned, we don't need to know why, we just need to trust Him. I do know God is the only One who can and will bring good out of tragedy. This He will do.
The flip side of this is: death is not defeat or the end. We were created for eternity. Death is just the doorway into our final existence. We can rejoice with Bianca. She has won the victory. She has avoided a lifetime of struggle, pain, and suffering. She served a purpose in her short 7 years of life. We still hurt for Duda, Branca, and Brenda (her 9 year old sister), but we know as Christians, there is hope. They will see Bianca again. When David's 7 day old son died, he said, "He cannot come to me; but I will go to him." (2 Samuel 12:23) Words of comfort and hope. "Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55) Keep them in your prayers this week. If you would like to send them your thoughts, we can translate them, print them off and give them the emails. Thankful there is an empty tomb, Chris, Teresa, and Sara
God is mightily working through the lives of Duda, Branca, Brenda, Chris, Teresa and Sara in northern Brasil. Their faith has encouraged Benay and myself so much today.
If you would like to reach out to any of these people then you can visit Chris and Teresa's blog at: http://www.brazil4jesuschrist.org/ I know they would love to hear from you.
1 comment:
We get those emails too, and had been following Bianca's story through them and some of our members. That last email was so powerful, especially Duda's response. "Still I will praise the LORD," indeed!
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