Today marks a very sad day in our home. We received notification this morning that a dear friend of ours in Liberia, Africa passed away. As most of you know, we’ve adopted four children from Liberia. Elizabeth Johnson is the birth mother of our youngest son Ephraim. We met Elizabeth on the beach in May of 2007 when we were in Liberia adopting Moses and Nana.
Elizabeth had walked for days looking for someone who would take her son Ephraim. He was sick with malaria, malnourished and very ill. Elizabeth followed us from the beach back to the place where we were staying. She had been carrying little Ephraim on her back for many days and had already traveled a very long distance. Elizabeth just wanted someone who would take her son and care for him, something she realized she was not able to do.
Long story short, Julie and I decided to adopt little Ephraim in March of 2008. I went back to Liberia in August of 2008 to pick Ephraim up, along with another one of our Liberian sons, Ezekiel.
Since our first encounter with Elizabeth and Ephraim on the beach in May of 2007, we were connected. We had no idea what God was purposing to do, but looking back we can clearly see how He was working through all of the details to make it possible to bring Ephraim into our family.
Throughout the past three and a half years, we’ve been able to watch God do a great work in Elizabeth’s life. She enrolled in school, excelled in her academics, and transferred to a nursing program last year. We were honored to walk alongside of her during these past few years.
During the summer of 2010, Elizabeth was afforded an amazing opportunity to travel to South Africa with several other honor students to participate in a nursing program. Again, we walked with her through this season and celebrated each step along the way.
On each of my trips to Liberia, I always get to see Elizabeth. Both Dawson and Cassie have also been able to meet Elizabeth when they've been in Liberia with me. And this past summer, while Julie was in Liberia for three weeks, Elizabeth had her over to her small little home and cooked a very special meal for her. Julie and Elizabeth had a great time making memories and sharing their hearts together. These two beautiful women have had a very intimate bond through this special little boy we call Eph.
In mid December, we were notified that Elizabeth had become ill and needed serious medical attention. It would take nearly $2.500 to transfer her from South Africa to Ghana where she could receive the proper medical attention she so desperately needed.
This is the note we received from Elizabeth on December 18th.
Hi mom and dad,
kindly help me towards my medical fees. Am seriously ill and need advance treatment now. Mr joeseph is here with me now and he have tried 2 raise some amount from friends and my mother pls am begging u 2 do something 4 me aleast this coming wk. 2day i manage 2 seat up 4 a while.
How is Ephraim doing? pls take goo care of him.
Can't say much pls am on my knees begging u 2 do something.
Urs Elizabeth
Unfortunately, we did not have this amount of money to send. Instead, we prayed and trusted that God would do what only He could do in caring for Elizabeth.
Over the course of this past week, we were notified several times of her condition. She emailed and texted us on numerous occasions and her school mates also notified us of her condition. Feeling a bit paralyzed because we were not able to send any money, we simply prayed. The truth is, Julie and I contemplated how we could raise money to help, but our past efforts to raise money for dire needs in Liberia have not been successful, so we decided our efforts would again be in vain. We did nothing.
Unfortunately, on Friday morning, December 31, 2010, at 9 a.m. we were notified that Elizabeth had passed away.
For both Julie and I, our hearts broke. Not only are we saddened to have lost someone so special and dear to us, but we also immediately felt like we could have done something to prevent this from happening, but didn’t. And because we didn’t, Elizabeth is now gone.
So many things have been on my mind and my heart today. I feel bad. We both feel bad. We feel guilty. We wonder if we could have somehow raised the money and sent it, would Elizabeth still be alive. We’re wondering how to tell little Ephraim about his mom. He talks so much about his “Africa mom”, as he would affectionately calls her.
God has been gracious to remind me of His truth today. Several things continue to come to mind:
1. God holds the keys to life and death. He ordains man’s life and every day is accounted for in His book before one of them ever comes to be.
2. God’s plans and purposes cannot be thwarted. He will do what He has purposed to do, and nothing I do or don’t do will change that. It doesn’t mean I don’t have my part to play in His design. It just means He is sovereign and will accomplish what seems good to Him.
3. There is so much work to be done in Liberia. In the past two weeks we’ve been presented with a myriad of opportunities to be a part of helping people. And although it seems like we have failed in our previous attempts to raise funds for our work in Liberia, we will continue striving to raise the awareness of the dire conditions in Liberia, and we will continue investing in people’s lives, for the glory of God.
4. Each day that slips by, I’m continually reminded that we can live with much less. And the more we purpose to live below our means, the more we’ll have to invest in the kingdom and the less we’ll be hoarding for our own indulgences.
5. The body of Christ here in North America has an enormous opportunity and incredible privilege to be a part of God’s redemptive purposes around the world. We really CAN make a difference in people’s lives by our giving and by our going.
6. In spite of the economy, in spite of certain friction with the Liberian government, in spite of our separation from our Liberian contacts, in spite of our prior inability to raise sufficient funds for our Liberian projects, we will continue running hard after the Lord and doing what we can to intercept lives, preach the gospel and make disciples.
7. You can join us in this work. To give a financial contribution to help send people to school, care for orphans, dig wells, and projects like these, just go to our website (www.2911.org) and click on the DONATE NOW tab. Your tax deductible contributions allow us to continue investing in people’s lives and making a lasting difference for the glory of God.
We know Elizabeth loved the Lord Jesus and was purposing to know Him and make Him known. And although we are deeply saddened by her passing, we know her lungs are filled with the aroma of heaven and she has joined in the anthem of heaven declaring the worthship of Jesus. She will never tire of saying “holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come”
For the first time, she now sees, with unveiled face, the glory of God in the face of Jesus. She is alive. She is whole. And she can clearly see her life and momentary trials were nothing in comparison to seeing Jesus face to face.
I look forward to joining her. Because for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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