The Great Physician

As Director of Beautiful Gate Lesotho, it has been a privilege to watch God’s amazing blessings in the lives of the children of Beautiful Gate. One such moment happened last week:

There is a precious little girl that came to Beautiful Gate from the new hospital in Maseru. Prior to coming to Beautiful Gate, she spent more than 100 days in the hospital recovering from multiple infections in her lungs. Due to the extent of the damage from the infections, she was required to be on an oxygen machine. She was always connected by a long tube from the machine to her nose , like what you would see in the hospital. After a lengthy stay in the hospital, a Doctor approached Beautiful Gate to see if we could care for her, as living in a hospital is not a great environment for a three year old. We were chosen by the Doctor because the machine needed to be plugged into electricity and we are the only care centre in Lesotho that has a backup generator for when the power goes out, which is often. After careful consideration, Beautiful Gate accepted her into our care on February 22, 2012. We were able to secure a longer oxygen tube so that she could have greater range in the house and at play group. All attempts to take her oxygen tubes from her face have resulted in panic attacks and increased stress from the child. We also had to rush her to the hospital once, as the power went out and our on-site generator was malfunctioning (I am convinced the devil was testing us that day). More than 10 minutes without her oxygen machine, and we would see a very panic stricken child.

During the last week of April, she was taken to Baylor Clinic in Maseru for observation. The doctors and our nurse decided to test her blood oxygen levels without the machine during that appointment. The first five minutes went fine, but as the minutes ticked by, she was getting visibly irritated and starting to panic and cry. This resulted in her blood oxygen levels dropping from the 95-100 range (normal) to the low 80′s. But, then an amazing thing started to happen. As the staff calmed her down, her blood oxygen level started to increase and after another half hour without the machine, her blood oxygen levels climbed back to 96! After one hour without the machine, she was still in the normal range! And, after two hours without the machine, she was still in the normal range! Even the Baylor Doctors were amazed! This child should not have recovered to these levels this quickly, in their professional opinion. But, we at Beautiful Gate know who the Great Physician is and know that He was at work in this child’s life!



The Baylor doctors and our nurse have been working together in the last two weeks devising a plan to slowly ween her off the machine, as she likes to overexert herself during play group time. But, it has been such a blessing to see her off the machine and playing with the other kids! Please continue to pray for her continued healing in her lungs. We are hopeful that as she continues to grow, she will also grow a greater capacity in the lungs, which will be healthy for her. This will one day give her the ability to be off the machine for good. She may never be a track star, but she will eventually be able to live a long and happy life!

God is Good….All the Time!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!
Bryan