11/14/10
One of the ministries we have been doing here in Candelaria is going around with Rosa, one of the prayer warriors in the village, to pray over people who have health problems. Last week, there was a woman who came to her and asked her to come and pray over her 26 year old son who was very sick. We went with her to his house and found him lying on the bed, very weak, writhing in pain. The family members told us he had very low blood pressure, his kidneys were shutting down, and he was having a lot of pain in his chest, unable to take a deep breath. We really didn’t know what else to do other than pray that God would take away his pain and bring physical healing. So that’s what we did. And then we left.
After we left, this man was still on Allan’s heart for the next few days so Allan, Christy, and I decided to go back to check in and see how he was doing. When we got there, his family told us that they had taken him to the hospital and they weren’t sure when he would return home. We were somewhat relieved that he was seeking medical attention, but weren’t sure what to do about the situation so we just sat in the home with his family, hardly able to communicate.
The next day, his sister came to the church where we’re staying and asked us to come pray for him because he had come back from the hospital but still wasn’t doing very well. Allan, Alex, and I headed over to his house around 1pm, not knowing what to expect. When we got there, he was sitting outside in a chair with his legs propped up on another chair. There were many family, friends, and neighbors gathered around fanning him, giving him water, and trying to comfort him in spite of the pain he was experiencing. The three of us got down on our knees, layed hands on him, and began praying. Everyone just sat there watching us as we kept on praying. After a couple of hours, we had moved inside and we didn’t know if we should stay or leave. We looked at his mom and she asked us to pray more. For four hours we sat there in the presence of his family and prayed over him. We prayed for his breathing to slow down. We prayed for the pain to go away. We prayed for healing and restoration.
And then it happened…all too quickly. We could tell by the moaning and the expression on his face that he was experiencing excruciating pain. And there we sat. At a loss for words. All of a sudden, one of the women began wailing and as she stood up she started to faint and then came screaming and tears from everyone in the room. His heart stopped beating. There was no pulse. His eyes were rolling back in his head. We had no idea what to do other than pray. And so we did. We layed hands on a dead man and prayed for him to get up. We stayed there for over an hour after he died and prayed over him. We prayed some pretty intense, bold prayers having faith that God could bring him back to life if it was His will.
After about an hour we told the family we would be back soon, and we headed back to the church to get Rosa, Maria, and Diego along with the rest of our team. We told them what had happened and what we were believing God to do and by the time we got back there 30 minutes later, they had already put him in an open coffin inside the house. Half the town had gathered outside for the viewing and partake in the coffee and bread which is customary for funeral services here in Central America. We marched right back into that house and prayed for another hour and a half. The people just watched us. By that time, they started preparing the body by sticking cotton in his nose and mouth and sprinkling a white powdery substance and leaves around his dead body. We just sat there. Speechless. They began to move the coffin outside for the viewing. We remained inside just staring at one another wondering what to do next. They started offering us coffee and bread, so there we sat in the house with the immediate family doing what we could to comfort them-mainly just sitting and being with them.
The whole day was somewhat surreal. Almost like a dream. It all kind of blurred together and I’m honestly still trying to process through everything that happened. When we got back last night, Allan, Alex, and I sat outside in the bed of the truck and started talking through the whole situation. We don’t know why exactly that man remained on Allan’s heart, why we were called back there, why we had to sit there and watch him die. God clearly has a plan and a purpose for what happened yesterday, we just don’t know it yet. Perhaps it was to build a relationship with that family. Maybe through that man’s death, God will bring life to his family through the Holy Spirit.
We may never see the fruits of the seeds that were planted through our prayers and actions yesterday in that house, but my prayer is that God will reap a huge harvest in His perfect timing.
