I Can’t Make This Stuff Up

When we decided to come to the field, one of the things I dreaded was the “house helper.”  I knew that missionaries, especially missionaries in Africa, were supposed to have house helpers.  I didn’t really want a house helper, but there were no less than a million reasons why having a house helper was a total necessity for me.  

I had heard horror stories about training house helpers.  I have a friend who insists she couldn’t get her gal to understand that you can’t wash dishes with the same rag you washed the commode with.  Other stories came to me of house helpers who thought hitting missionary children, even small infants, was okay.  I was so worried.  I prayed LOTS about this particular concern.  And the Lord was so very gracious.

He gave me my sweet Naomi in Jos. I know I’ve mentioned her many times, but she was such a gift to our family.  She loved us, she loved our kids.  She loved to laugh and sing.  She was the epidomy of “a merry heart doeth good.”  She was a joy.  I was so, so sad to leave her.  I just knew that she could never be replaced.  I just knew that God had granted me favor in the house helper department just long enough for me to get my bearings.  And now...I was going to have to do it the hard way. 

I even considered trying life in our new city without a house helper.  Briefly.  Very briefly.  Then I came to my senses and remembered that everything takes 2-3 times longer here. So, I began to pray that God would make it okay, that He would go before me and make the rough places smooth regarding a house helper.  I reminded Him how very, very weak and worn I was and how I really, really felt as though I needed an easy button on this one.

Our first morning at the Accra Guesthouse, I was struggling.  It was the day that I sat down and wrote this post.  No sooner had I written it than Abby came into our room and told me that Ryan had been talking to an American lady who was staying at the guest house too. She mentioned that she knew of a house helper who was looking for work.  This American lady was visiting Accra, but she had lived here with her family for 5 years.  This gal had been her house helper and she absolutely loved her.  In fact, they have talked monthly for the 5 years the family had been back in the States.  Their former house helper was coming to visit them that night, before they flew back to America, and she asked if I’d like to meet her.  Her name is Naomi.

Well, I just burst into tears because I knew that God was answering my prayers.  I just knew that she was going to be the one.  I met her that evening, interviewed her a few days later, and she started the next day.  She is doing a great job and we are once again overwhelmed at the Father’s provision. Really, I couldn’t make this stuff up.  Amazing!