"God is answering our prayers!"

I just got off the phone with my Liberian Ma, Mary. I do not have the words to describe how much this woman means to me. Throughout my years in Liberia she was my confidant, teacher, chef, shoulder-to-cry-on, cultural interpreter, prayer warrior, movie-watching-buddy and friend. I miss her more that anyone else I know in Liberia, sometimes so much it hurts. So, when I heard her giggling, happy voice this morning over the scratchy phone line, my heart was happy. I was talking to her from the cozy comfort of my American bed-- she is in the middle of a war-zone-- yet I could hear the light in her voice and it lit me up all these thousands of miles away. 

Mary and I together in the streets of Monrovia in 2012.

Mary and I talked for just a few minutes-- she assured me that even though she had to move to a different community because of so many people dying of Ebola in her own, she was safe and healthy. She even had a friend from church die of Ebola and now her entire family is in quarantine. She said that the Liberian president made an announcement this week that "Ebola is reducing in Liberia" and that "God is answering our prayers." Yet she went on to discuss how Liberians need to continue to be vigilant in keeping up health and sanitary standards so that this outbreak does not see a resurgence. She said that even though rainy season is coming to an end and the hot Liberian sun is burning down, everyone in Liberia is wearing long sleeves and pants to keep safe.

This is the story of so many in West Africa right now. I love that Mary can see the hope in the middle of the storm. In faith, she is praising God for answered prayers even as people she knows, her own life, continues to be affected by this disease. She can see the big picture, the thing I have to keep telling myself-- God is bigger than Ebola. 

The WHO did announce this week that the number of Ebola infections in Liberia seems to be slowing. But this does not mean we stop our vigilant prayers, miracles are still needed and this fight is not over. But today, I choose to rejoice with Ma Mary-- God is answering our prayers!