It was our first day of ministry in Swaziland. It also happened to be one of my favorites. We began our day with some worship and prayer and then a few of my teammates and I found ourselves at the park downtown.
After talking and praying with a few people there, I noticed a young man sitting at one of the stone picnic tables. He was there by himself, and I could tell he was lost in deep thought as he sat there with his backpack on his lap, staring off into the distance. I went and introduced myself. Almost immediately I could sense his despair.
He told me his name was Nebraska (yes, like the state), and he was currently studying French at the university nearby.
He asked me what I was doing here in Swaziland, so I told him. I asked him if he knew Jesus. He said he did, and that he even volunteers as a youth leader at a church nearby!
We talked for a while until I could sense that he didn’t want to talk anymore. I told him I wanted to pray for him before I left, and asked if there was anything specific I could pray for. He didn’t want to get into details, but said that his life had gotten very difficult over the past several months. He told me he felt like he was caught in an avalanche; one thing after another after another. Again, I could hear the despair in his voice that I’d been sensing since I first sat down with him.
I did the best I could to pray for him with what little I knew about what was going on in his life. When I had finished praying, he thanked me and sat staring down at the ground. I said to him, “just know that God loves you so much and He sees you right now, right where you are. He’s not going to leave you here. I hope you can be encouraged by that.”
When I said those words, he looked up from the ground and his eyes lit up, and he smiled the first real smile I’d seen since we had begun our conversation. He told me, “Before, it felt like I was in a dark tunnel and I couldn’t see the light. There was no way out. Something was blocking the light. And now, I’m still in that tunnel, but all of a sudden I can see the light. Whatever was blocking it has cleared away and I can see that there’s an end in sight.”
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The rest of that week, I couldn’t get Nebraska out of my mind. I prayed for him and all the other people I’d met at the park all week long, several times a day.
The following week, I set off for ministry with a different group of people to a completely different part of the city of Manzini. We didn’t have anything scheduled or planned that day, so we just walked, stopping to talk with some of the shop owners along the way.
It wasn’t long before we heard someone yelling out from behind us,
“Hey! Hey!!!”
I recognized him immediately. It was Nebraska! I ran over to him, pleasantly surprised to see him but also knowing that God had to be up to something and should I really be surprised by anything anymore?
“It’s Nebraska, do you remember me?!” he asked.
“Of course I remember you! How are you?”
To that he responded, “Look at my face, I’m smiling!! Ever since you prayed for me in the park that day everything has been getting better, life is looking up!”
Still, he didn’t get into details, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t need to know all the details to know that God was working in this man’s life. I introduced him to my friends and we talked for a few minutes, and that was that. He continued on his way and we continued on ours.
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I’m not sure what the odds are that we’d run into the same person twice in two completely different parts of the city, but I can tell you that there was no coincidence there. We had to have been walking at just the right time and in just the right place in order for our paths to cross that day.
But here’s the thing: even if our paths hadn’t crossed that second time, God would still be working in Nebraska’s life. He still would have been answering my prayers without me even knowing how. God didn’t have to let our paths cross again, but He did. He did it because He wanted to encourage us both. He wanted to encourage Nebraska, but he also wanted to encourage me to keep praying.
He wanted to encourage me that my prayers really DO matter. That my prayers DO make a difference. He wanted to show me that He brought me all the way across the world to a park in Swaziland for a reason, and that His light truly is shining through me, even when there are so many times I doubt it.
So even if you’re doubting, keep praying.
Know that your prayers ARE being heard. Maybe you won’t get to see the answer to every single prayer you pray, but that doesn’t mean it’s not being answered. Maybe you won’t run into the answer on a street corner in Swaziland the way I ran into Nebraska, but keep praying.
The Lord will always honor your faithfulness.
Keep trusting, keep praying, and keep letting your light shine!
