The Faith of Harris

I got an email today from a friend who works at Good News Magazine. She had a story from a photojournalist named Scott Harrison who had been traveling around with a group of medical missionaries to Liberia. Just reading it renewed my faith in miracles and restored my ability to hope in the face of discouragement.

This man told a story of meeting a man named Harris who had been suffering from a tumor on his face for the last 13 years. This tumor had dissolved 3/4 of this man's teeth and was slowly beginning to suffocate him. There was no hope for the medical treatment necessary because of the state of the country he lived in, but somehow Harris had faith in God that he would be healed someday.

That day came when the Mercy Ship moved into the neighborhood. They happened upon some people discussing the man with the tumor on his face and the decided to seek him out. It took two weeks to make him healthy enough to perform the surgery. When all was said and done, Harris was at least 6lbs, 4 oz. lighter and most importantly he was able to smile again. If you'd like to see the before and after pictures, you can see them here: http://onamercyship.com/harris/surgeryalbum.

This man witnessed a miracle 13 years in the making. A man who was a prisoner in his own body for 13 years and who was doomed to death had faith and God was faithful. It seems I only dream about witnessing something so powerful and life-changing. These are Scott's words:

Yesterday, more than 13 years since his tumor began growing, I saw what that
miracle looked like in an operating room. A messy and bloody miracle on a ship
in West Africa. A miracle that involved two volunteer surgeons and three
anesthetists working for four hours to remove the tumor that had wrecked
Harris's face. And then worked for another three to put him back together
again.

An hour ago on the ward, I watched through tears as Harris and his father
were reunited after two weeks. Harris grinned when he saw his father, a smile
previously made impossible by the tumor, and one I'll look forward to getting
used to. His father knelt beside his bed with tears in his eyes and looked up at
the ceiling.
"I am looking for God. I am looking for God," he said.

There are many lessons to learn from this story:

• Support missionary organizations...they do great things.
• God uses people to do His work.
• Nothing is impossible with faith.
• God sometimes takes a while to answer prayers.
• God wishes to redeem suffering.

But most of all I like to take away from this story the simple message that where there is faith there is more than enough of God's mercy to meet it.