Daughter of the King

 

   I don’t know where you are as you read this blog. If you are in your home just finishing the dishes, sitting by your desk at work or taking a break from studying at Starbucks. I don’t know if you ate breakfast this morning or what you chose to wear. But wherever you are, I want to take you on a journey for a few minutes. It is thousand’s of miles away from where you are now, but right now that doesn’t matter either.

 I want you to imagine you’re in Africa. Jeffreys Bay, South Africa to be exact. You’re not by the ocean, or out in the dessert like so many would think, you are in the Tokoyo Sexwhale community. You are in a little shack about the size of my bathroom at home in America. The home consists of a bed, a cupboard, a bench, clothes on the floor and a few dishes. There’s no AC or windows, in fact the temperature in the house is quite miserable. The “counter top” is covered with scraps of food, dirty dishes and flies and other creatures swarming and crawling where they wish. You look around feeling kind of out of place and as if you are the richest person on earth. You think back to just a minute ago when you were sitting in your home with electricity or your work place with thousands of dollars filtering in and out constantly and you wish you could just disappear back to that normal/comfortable place again. As your mind comes back to the present you notice the woman lying on the bed. You are speechless. You have never in your life seen/experienced this before. You remember your manners and ask her, her name. Princess she says. You realize the woman lying there has AIDS. Her body is scarcely anything besides bones, her legs about the size of your wrists. You learn she really doesn’t know how many days she has left. She has been getting progressively worst, and without money to purchase medicine or the right kind of food, it’s virtually impossible to get well. A little girl peeks her head inside the door, and she says her name is, Precious. She is three years old and her name definitely matches her personality. Precious crawls beside her mother Princess, and tears fill your eyes as you realize Precious’ days with her mother are getting short. 

You are probably wondering why I took you on that journey. Well, because that has been my journey for the last week. One of my team mates (Samantha) and I have been visiting Princess, and her story is definitely true and definitely real. Princess is only twenty eight years old, but her body is so weak and frail. Sam and I have been going to visit her, we carry her out of her bed and bring her outside to get a little bit of fresh air, since she is confined to her bed all day, because she is alone and not able to get out of bed on her own. Her daughter Precious is such a burst of life. She smiles, laughs and plays like a normal happy three year old, unaware of the critical condition of her mother. We really don’t know how many more days Princess has, but we do know that she loves Jesus with all her heart and will one day be home in heaven with Him.

As I walked back home today after being with Princess, I realized how fitting and perfect her name is. This precious daughter of the King is lying hopeless on her bed, while her King holds her up in His cable hands and gives her strength for each new day. She clings to Him for life itself.  

Do you?

Chasing After Him,

-ellie