Share Series: Hope into the Brokenness

My name is Ashely Myers, and I have served as the Medical Coordinator on board the YWAM Liberty in Papua New Guinea. 

On one outreach we went to a village that no YWAM team had ever been to before. We had to take an hour-long Zodiac ride to get there. Everyone was so excited as we were setting up for the clinic. I was the Triage Nurse that day so I was registering the patients that came to see us. There was a lady who came over and told me that her daughter was at home and could not get to the clinic. She asked me if someone could come and see her, so I took a friend with me and we went to this lady’s house. 

The daughter’s name was Edith. She was twenty-two years old and had been treated for Tuberculosis about six months ago. She had also given birth while she was at the hospital. A week after giving birth, she woke up unable to move the right-hand side of her body. After taking a look at her, it was obvious that she had suffered from a stroke. Oddly enough, my specialty working back home in Canada was stroke rehabilitation, working at a stroke rehab hospital. I had seen many stroke patients so I knew how to treat her and help her. This included instruction on how to take care of her joints and how to increase her range of motion in order to walk and move while also increasing her strength.

It was such a blessing to them and they were so grateful. We were able to spend time with them talking story and were able to pray for them. Before we left they even gave us some fresh coconuts to take with us.

This story has always stuck with me because it demonstrates how God’s love is multiplied by channeling through other people and expressing that practical love played out through our actions. To be able to say that God brought a nurse who had the specific knowledge needed to help you in this most remote place in order to bless you and encourage you. That you would know that you are not forgotten or overlooked, that you are loved by the creator of the universe.

 If nobody goes to these isolated places then how is God going to multiply his love and how are these people going to encounter the love of Jesus? I know that God is bigger than us and can do the impossible, but I believe He chooses to use people. 

I serve with YWAM Ships because I want to be able to see broken people experience hope and to bring hope into the brokenness. 

Ashley Meyers

Follow the link to watch the video testimony https://youtu.be/Hx9jsbETBiQ