September, 2026
En route
I sleep for most of my 13 hour flight to Manila awakening to prayer and hymns just before landing. My hymn app brings me “Come Thy Fount of Every Blessing” and I sing along: “Here’s my heart, Lord take and seal it. Seal it for Thy clinics abroad.” The early morning in Manila greets us with a humid, 82° day just as the sun is rising. I quickly remove my cozy hoodie. It was a necessity on the plane but is no longer a cherishable item.
Our next one hour flight takes us to the island of Bacolod, pronounced ‘Bacola’ to my ear, where we will serve this week. There are mountains rising beyond the small airport fields of vibrant green encircled by trees all around. The sugar cane crops towers in the fields beyond its borders. It is a lovely morning with the moist breezes of this island rainforest.
I find another song impressing itself on my lips. “Create in me a clean heart, Oh, Lord and renew a steadfast spirit within me”. It is in perfect tune with my thoughts on the plane. I have been struggling with some adequacy issues these past few months which have flared recently. In my discomfort and confusion, God has sent me this song. It is an anchor of sorts and allows me to redirect my thoughts to the joy of greeting old and new friends.
Rick and Everly are old friends from back home. I have served alongside them for years. This week will be spent in Everly’s hometown of Talistay. Her signature effervescence shines from her face as she greets each one of us. Her team here, which includes government officials, all share her generous kindness and hospitality. My tired traveling self finds them an invigorating balm contagiously perking me and the whole team up.
Our first stop is a Bacolod everything shop, like a Filipino Target if you will. This one is complete with appliances, furniture, clothes, linen, food … and karaoke machines. There is live music in the grocery store! The singer and I sing as I wander about the store.
“I’m arriving on a jet plane; don’t know when I’ll be back again, oh babe I hate to go…” without a portable washing machine.
“Country roads take me to my Talistay home, to the place I belong…Bacolod, mountain Mama, take me home… country roads.”
After arriving at our hotel, I take a NAP meeting but find my mind spiraling with my thoughts on the plane. I ask God to help me find resolution to my roiling emotions so I might more fully commit to our week. His clarity comes as we gather for dinner.
My last song of the day is the Lord’s Prayer, played by our hosts to set our hearts right for service, they say. It’s as if God crescendos the words I need at just the right moment: Forgive us our debts as I FORGIVE… it is in the art of forgiveness that I find rest for my weary strivings. Tired but prepped and ready.
Monday
It seems that this trip will be full of music. I awaken singing “You raise me up”. This makes me smile as I rise.
“You raise me up so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
I am strong when I am on Your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be”.
This pairs nicely with the words of my teammates’ that keep resonating in my mind. Trust God with the unimaginable and be mindful that your face reflects His presence.
He has sent me. He will raise me to be All that I can be.
Clinic Day One!💥
Barangay Matab-ang Concepcion
There are fruit stands galore with pineapples, pokey gourds, nanners and lazonias, an unattractive small pear-like fruit. This is the ‘bread basket’ area of the city, I am told, and we are just entering the abundance of fruit season.
There are stores of random wood and sheet metal lining the narrow streets as we leave the city proper. They are keeping back the ever encroaching thickness of the tangled forest landscape. The electric wiring above the streets is a mass of snarly chaos. The knots and bunches and random hanging ends are an enigmatic marvel. I imagine it as a 5,000 piece untenable puzzle.
We pass by brightly colored school buildings that are painted blue and yellow with colorful, muraled walls. They are small pockets of invitation all along our route.
We set up clinic in an outdoor covered pavilion that belongs to the Catholic church across the street.
It is also yellow and blue with tall ceilings and plenty of room.
I am an examiner today, sometimes, and my first patient of the day comes to me with complaints of DOB. I try to wrap my head around its meaning… to me, dob=date of birth. I smile as I consider if my patient is unhappy with her age.
Everly is my interpreter and she asks the vital sign ladies what it means. It turns out she has difficulty of breathing, SOB or shortness of breath to me. Now that’s something I can investigate. It is a silly start.
I try to rely on the Holy Spirit’s hovering over me and each patient, wanting to be sensitive to His inner prompting. I tend to lean toward what the patient can do to improve their situation: Diet, exercise, hydration. I want to trust God to put before me those whom He chooses.
I see several adults today with complaints of hypertension and diabetes. Most of them are already on meds and being followed by a local MD. This is encouraging. It is when I have a patient with borderline blood sugar that my confidence begins to falter. I didn’t treat her for it. I opted for diabetic teaching instead. Later when Dr. K, one of our local doctors, shares her protocol with me, I see the error of my ways. If I had known the protocol, my patient would have been sent for labs.
I’ve been pondering this ever since, wondering where my inadequacies fit into His plan. This, again, has been my repeated question of these past few months. My trouble is, of course, my focus…on MY adequacy. He redirects me by bringing my teammate’s words to my mind again. In times like these, when I think my adequacy is faltering, I am invited to trust God with the unimaginable: He could, and does, make me more than enough despite what I fear are my failings.
He lifts me up to be more than I can be because He is more than able to take care of both my patient and me. He has purposes beyond my imagination and the wonder of it all is that He chooses to use me anyway. What a wondrous God we serve.
💥PhilippiAnne💥
