For the past 30 years these hands have been the hands that have provided healing to thousands of patients in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. They have stopped bleeding, removed cancer, delivered babies, straightened bones, reconnected tendons, removed infections, sutured lacerations and more. They have also folded in prayer over many patients that have had surgery at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital.
For years these hands have gone numb and have had some trouble in long surgeries, but most recently, the numbness has been constant and even the most basic functions they had been performing for years, were becoming very challenging. Thankfully, God's timing was perfect. Not only was Jim no longer the only full time surgeon at Kudjip (Ben, Jim's son is here doing surgery also), but Mike Pyle, a former Naz missionary in Swaziland, who has done a number of carpal tunnel surgeries, was also here volunteering. Ben was willing to take a few more calls and Mike was willing to do Jim's surgery, so to the OT they went.
Mike put his hands of healing on Jim, prayed for the surgery and then went to work relieving the compression on Jim's median nerve causing his carpal tunnel syndrome. Praise God the surgery went very well, the numbness has already gone down, and Jim expects to be using his hands in healing once again very soon. God is good.