I left Tanzania on Sunday. It was horrible, I felt like I was leaving my family and friends from back at home all over again. We really built some special relationships there and it was sooooo hard to say goodbye. I know I say that most months, but this one was a horrible goodbye. I will be back to Tanzania some day.
Tanzania was a huge month of growth between God and I. I saw a lot of things that I’ve never seen before, and honestly didn’t know if I even believed. Well, thank you God, I believe 100% now. The things that happened this month just made every word in the Bible that much more real to me.
I’ve been reading the gospels the last few months. After reading what Jesus did, he healed this person and that person, he cast out demons from this one and that one, ect…I was ready to go because I knew that I had that same power and authority. I would enter the hospital and have really good conversations. I would show them Christ’s love and compassion and comfort them and pray over them. But then I would leave and everything looked the same as when I arrived. I knew that what I did was good and powerful, but I was starting to wonder, do I really have that power and authority in my prayers. Can I really? Me?
The second to last hospital visit, I prayed for God to show me that I have power and authority in my prayers. I knew it in my head, but not completely in my heart. We arrived at the hospital, I talked to a few women, shared the gospel with them, prayed with them. BUT then, I met a 16 year old girl named Chatifa. She has a tumor in her abdomen and couldn’t move her legs. I knelt down on the side of her bed and began talking to her. I talked to her for a long time and shared the gospel with her. She is Muslim. She looked at my translator and said that she wanted to accept Christ in her heart. I looked at my translator and said, “really?” with a huge smile on my face. I’d had this happen several times this month and they were all amazing, but this one was different. So I retold her the gospel in another way to make sure she knew what that meant and what she was deciding. She said, “I know, yes, that’s what I want”. I told her that I couldn’t heal her, but that God can, and when we put our faith in Him, He is faithful. I began praying with her for salvation, but I knew she couldn’t understand me in English. I told her that I would pray with her, but I couldn’t do it for her. So she prayed with me. Neither of us knew what the other was praying. But as I was holding her hand praying, I could feel it in my heart the connection, that she had accepted Christ. So then I began praying over her legs. The minute I started praying for her legs, she started moving them.
God has given us power and authority. God is amazing, all the glory is His. He has revealed such big things to me this month.
Of course I had struggles as well, but nothing could get in the way of what God was doing there.
