Morning By Morning New Mercies I See

"I want to make God smile
and I want to live before others
so when they see me, they will smile at God."
-Amba Mputela

I am not a collector of quotes. However, there are one or two I turn to often as guides for my life or reminders to me. The quote above could be summed up as my life's mission. And, unfortunately for this world, the woman who said this once at my church passed away a few days ago. She was a strong presence in my life and although I have only spoken with her 4 or 5 times, she was in my mind often.

Dr. Amba Mputela was a missionary to the Ivory Coast and was-as someone perfectly phrased it today-a "spiritually charged" woman. She was living her life and giving her gifts and talents to the work of the Lord and for the people of Abidjan whom she loved so very much.

I don't recall all of her story but I know that her journey from young girl to doctor to missionary was one full of trials and difficulty. Her story was amazing and she would captivate a room when she came to speak.

When I first met her, she was visiting Vista Grande and I had just begun dating David. When she met him, she pulled me close to her and told me that "he is a very special man" and she told me that I would marry him.

It was 5 or 6 years later that I saw her again. David and I were married and had been trying to get pregnant with no success. We were frustrated and unsure if we had "a problem" or not. I was at a women's conference and was excited to see Amba again. She remembered me and was happy to hear I had, indeed, married that very special man. She asked if we had kids and I told her some of our troubles. She was quiet for a moment, placed her hand on my stomach and told me I would have a baby soon. It was only a few weeks later that we got pregnant with Nathan.

The last few years of Amba's life was a battle between her strong desire to continue her ministry and care for her body who kept repeatedly failing her. She spent time here in the States and had only just gotten the okay to go home to the Ivory Coast when she fell ill and passed away.

I praise God that He gets to spend time with Amba now. I an thankful that she is pain free and can sing hymns in her strong and beautiful French-African accent directly to her Savior. And I look forward to singing with her again one day.




This is my last post for NaBloPoMo...it is not how I expected to end this month of blogging, blogging, going to bed and almost forgetting to blog, and more blogging. I am thankful for you all who have been reading faithfully and I will not be falling off the face of the earth now that I am not obligated by the potential of winning prizes.

Be well friends...I hope that today you will have a reason to smile at God.