Tuesday was our first full day of ministry. We went into town with translators and just started talking to people. We met, shared the gospel, and prayed with quite a few people before we arrived at our first home. The married couple (I will call them Mary and Steve) invited us into their home and we all introduced ourselves. Before much time passed we found out that they were "born again" believers. We asked how they came to Christ, and forty minutes later we were sitting in awe of God and His saving grace. I will do my best to convey the story she told.
Mary and Steve were not believers, and in fact any time "born agains" would come to their door, Mary would chase them away. She was a Catholic and she said she loved her beer too much to be a "born again." When her children were young (eight years old and younger) they started going to a Protestant church, just the kids. One night Steve's sister came in town to visit, stayed the night and then left. Mary's eight year old son came up to her and said the aunt came to kill all the kids. Mary was mad and embarrassed that her kid said that so she started beating him. But what she didn't know at the time was that the Lord had revealed that to her son.
The aunt ended up leaving and a few days later Mary's son came up to her and couldn't speak but was pointing at his head trying to tell her he wasn't ok. The son ended up falling over and Mary saw what she called charms coming out of his arm. The three other children came to her that same night with the same thing happening to them. She started yelling for help and nearby "born agains" came over and prayed for the children that were near death and the Lord healed all of them.
She took them all to the hospital so they could find out what had happened, and while they were there her son said "Mum I told you auntie came to kill us." The aunt had put a curse on the kids. Through all of this Mary refused to confess Jesus as Lord. When they returned home her daughters arm started swelling until it burst and Mary asked her Catholic friends what she should do for her children. They told her she needed to go to a witch doctor. Mary got very angry that they wouldn't help and that they told her to go to a witch doctor. So she was finished with the Catholic church.
She ended up taking her daughter to a "born again" church where the pastor prayed for her daughter and she was healed. Mary still did not want to confess Jesus as Lord, she said she loved beer more than Jesus and didn't want to give it up. "Born agains" kept coming to their house and she said that if it was true that God would accept her just the way she was then she was going to go to Him with her five cases of beer.
After all that time Mary ended up receiving salvation along with Steve!
There were two things the Lord opened my eyes to through her testimony.
One, God will continue to pursue hearts and plant seeds, so I don't need to get discouraged if I talk to an unbeliever and they show no interest. Two, prayer is so powerful. Those children were exposed to the Gospel, but they didn't know how to cover themselves in prayer. I may not have been exposed to the spirit world like these kids were, but I consider that God's grace and I'm so thankful to have a mom and dad and loved ones who covered me in prayer!
