If you are considered to have “two left feet” then you have somewhat of a problem. That saying was true for us recently, although not in the sense that you would think, but we most definitely had a foot problem.
In Bolivia, we rely heavily on donated used parts and materials from prosthetic clinics in the US to supplement whatever we can’t source locally. While preparing for a recent trip to Bolivia, I had a few large donations of prosthetic parts that included feet, which is good because we always seem to be running short on feet. As I eagerly looked through the donations, I was amazed to see that all the feet were right feet. I wasn’t too alarmed because I figured we had a decent supply at our clinic, but when I got to Bolivia, my assistant, Elias, and I took inventory and made a grim discovery; we didn’t have many feet and all but two of them were right feet!
As I eagerly looked through the donations, I was amazed to see that all the feet were right feet.
My heart sank as I started thinking of what my odds were of having all the patients need left feet. The next day we would know for sure as all our patients were coming to the clinic for an evaluation. The big day arrived and so did all our patients. Have you ever been in a situation that goes from bad to worse and the only thing you can do is shake your head and laugh? I suppose we do this out of a feeling of desperation or a nervous reaction but whatever the reason, it’s all that I could do in that moment as I surveyed the needs of my patients. All but two of them needed…you guessed it, left feet.
All but two of them needed…you guessed it, left feet.
Now, if there is something that we do exceptionally well at our clinic, it is being able to improvise. We have learned how to be creative and use whatever we have on hand to reach our end goal of getting someone walking again, but this situation was on another level of difficulty. My mind quickly went into a MacGyver-like problem-solving mode as Elias and I started thinking of alternatives. We had never made feet before but we decided to try. We went around Cochabamba looking for the materials we would need. However, as we went from store to store, no one had the materials we needed, and it soon became apparent that our plan wasn’t going to work.
It soon became apparent that our plan wasn’t going to work.
As we sat brainstorming in the clinic, it occurred to me that I had not even prayed for this predicament we were in. When faced with the problem, I had tried to solve it in my own power instead of asking for the Lord to help us. We decided right then and there that we would begin praying for God to provide what we needed, specifically left feet. I also called our partner, Maria Blanca, who manages the medical supplies warehouse for Mano a Mano in Cochabamba to see if there were any boxes of donated parts that were at the warehouse for us. Good news, there was something there for us! Maybe God was answering our prayers already, at least that’s what Elias and I were thinking. We were so hopeful, but as we anxiously opened up the box, our hopes were dashed. Unfortunately, there was nothing there that we could use. Maria Blanca joined us in praying that God would bring us some left feet. She also promised to have her team of volunteers look through the warehouse for any boxes marked for our clinic.
We decided right then and there that we would begin praying for God to provide what we needed, specifically, left feet.
Week after week went by but still no answer from God and no feet. We had finished every patient’s prosthesis, minus the feet. I was down to my last week before having to leave. The patients would have to be come in soon to try out their legs, but not without feet. It breaks my heart whenever we have to tell a patient that we can’t get them walking for some reason, and I didn’t want to have to break the news to them. We continued to pray for a miracle. Then, out of the blue and with four days left, I got a call from Maria Blanca saying that she was coming over with something for us.
She arrived in a flatbed truck with a big box on the back marked “Filadelfia Center for Prosthetics”. She jumped out of the truck with a big smile on her face and said her volunteers had been scouring the warehouse for anything for us but there had been nothing. They had no idea where this had come from, but we knew. The box was big, and would have been hard to miss. It took five of us to lift it off the truck. She asked if I wanted to look inside the box to see if the feet that we needed were in there, but I told her that that wasn’t necessary, I already knew what was in there. We pushed the box into the clinic and Elias and I were like two little kids on Christmas morning, oohing and aahing as we pulled out these gifts from God. It was filled with so many things we could use, including feet. As we took stock of the feet that we pulled out of the box, we realized that we not only had the left feet we needed, but we had them in the exact size for each patient! We even had an abundance of feet that day. God had answered our prayers and provided a miracle that allowed people to be able to walk and exponentially grew our faith at the same time.
They had no idea where this box had come from, but we knew.
