On one of our days at El Shaddai a small group of us decided to go out into the community, outside of the compound, and pray for people. We started by praying for what the treasure looked like. For 30 minutes, while listening to worship music, we asked God what he had in store for us; things we should keep an eye out for. When I prayed images of eyes kept flashing across my view. Some that were scared, some that were teary, some that were joyful, and some that looked evil. One of the pairs of eyes even had a grey, hazy cloud surrounding them. I also got an image of an arrow pointing straight ahead. I kept asking God to show me more so that I would know how to find these people the eyes belong to on our walk. I kept hearing Him say over and over, “Look for my eyes. The ones I’ve shown you. The ones you’ve seen.” Ok God… I’m gonna trust you. Let’s look for those eyes.
Not even 10 steps out of the gate we come across our first treasure. A man named Estello. His eyes didn’t match any that I had seen in my vision, but he looked extremely familiar. I had seen him before, but where. And then it hit me. A week before leaving Mozambique God randomly gave me an image of a man laying on the side of the road up against a bag of something. He was wearing a hat of three different colors; sort of like a Jamaican, Rastifaree beanie and he was thin with high cheekbones.
I’ve never seen a distinct individual in my visions before, so this was a first, and here he was laying right in front of me against a bag of maze (corn). I just had to talk to him! So I sit down next to him and begin to hear about his life. His father prayed for a boy and God provided his family with him. We asked him how we could pray for him and he said he needed a job. He also asked us to pray over his eyes; he had a hazy cloud over them.
Yes… no lie… the same words I used to describe my vision he used to describe his sight. Wow God, just wow! Our team prayed for him and I told him that I hoped I would come across him in the future. And sure enough God wasn’t done.
As we continued our prayer walk we stopped at a corner store that was run by a man named James, who we began to chat with and pray for. After leaving the store who do we find on the side of the road walking home with his sack of maze, but Estello. We asked him where he was going and if he wanted to come pray with us along his way. Sure enough… our treasure hunt crew of 4 became 5.
The rest of the day Estello was a blessing to us. He was our translator, our pray partner, and our guide. People allowed us to pray for them because he helped us communicate. Families invited us into their homes because they knew him. He shared with us about life in Swaziland and became a great addition to our team.
God taught me something through this experience. That everything happens in His timing. Even though I got that vision of Estello while in Mozambique God wasn’t ready to use it. He wanted me to file it away until the timing was just right. Swaziland was that timing.
Thank you God for speaking to us in unique ways. Thank you for your unique timing… your perfect timing. I pray that you continue to wow and amaze us every single moment. Allow us to continue to pause, be still, and just experience you. Thank you for Estello, your treasure, and for being the map that led us to find him. Amen.
