So we’re walking home from our dumplings and a woman approaches. She is holding out her hand with a few coins in her palm. She looks like she has been wearing the same clothes for a week, and that she’s owned them for years. She walks with a crutch. Her left leg is stiff and is about 8 inches shorter than her right leg. Two friends are following her. She doesn’t speak English and we don’t speak Mandarin, limiting all communication to nonverbal expressions (always fun!). I bend down, trying to find out what is wrong with her leg and pray for it, but communication is scarce and they are interested in money. For many reasons, I prefer not to give money to those begging for it, but we always offer to buy them food.
Sage and I motion toward a food stand and to our happy surprise, they are interested. (most people we encountered in Malaysia were only interested in cash.) They evaluated some nearby street vendors, but were not satisfied, so we suggested the convenience store down the street.
With that, the 3 poor, village looking women and the 2 white girls pile into the store. We told them they could get anything they wanted. With giddy smiles, they filed their arms with sausage and ramen and vacuum sealed chicken and I don’t even know what else. There were like children in the candy store. The store clerk, on the other hand, disapprovingly, shook her head at us. I admit, I felt slight embarrassment as they dumped their selections on the counter, holding up the line of impatient people that had formed behind us. But the three were happy, so I tried to disregard the obvious frustrations of the others in the store.
Completing the 3 transactions, we walked back out to the street. But I wasn’t done with this lady. Feeding the poor absolutely is the Kingdom. Jesus talks about that a lot, but there’s more to the Kingdom. And I’m always after “the more.” We addressed the need she asked for (food/money), positioning us to address the need she didn’t know she could ask for (God encounter).
I walked down the road with her and found a bench where she could sit. Again, I asked about her leg. I supposed she may have a prosthesis, but she pulled her pant leg up, revealing a big scar at her knee area. Now, it was obvious why she couldn’t bend her leg. It was as if her entire knee had been surgically removed.
I had her sit back, holding her legs straight out in front of her at a 90 degree angle. Her left leg was considerably shorter – probably 8 inches shorter than the right. I have seen people with a leg 1 or 2 inches shorter than the other, but this, I had never seen. But if God can grow a leg 1 inch, He can certainly grow it 8 inches. With that, I held her feet, Sage laid her hands on the woman’s knee and we commanded the leg to grow. This, we were not quiet about. I’m sure the people passing by were wondering what the heck two white girls were doing with a homeless looking, Chinese woman in the middle of Shanghai. But we focused our attention on the presence of God and the woman.
We prayed for at least 5 minutes, commanding the leg to grow and align. Slowly, as we prayed, we watched her leg lengthen. I’m not sure what was going on in this lady, but she had her head back, eyes closed and it looked like she was praying too. Her leg came to a point where it was about 2 inches shorter, and then it stopped growing. We felt we were finished, but we took advantage of having our hands on her and declared some radical encounters over her – that Jesus would walk in her room, that she would be filled with the Holy Spirit and that she would be a revivalist in her community. We like to do that :).
Looking at her as we stood up, she was amazed and full of joy. Then, she reached in her bag, took out her coin purse and started pulling out bills to give to us!! What??! The lady, who came to us begging, was now trying to throw her earnings for the week into our hands. That’s what happens when the Kingdom comes and Heaven invades: things turn upside down, prostitutes become revivalists, thieves become givers, persecutors become lovers, law becomes grace, bondage becomes freedom.
Of course we said “no, no, no,” and pointed up to God. It just so happened that we puchased some Chinese Bibles in Malaysia and smuggled them into China. I pulled one out of my purse and gave it to her as we said our goodbyes.
Just that moment, 3 police rode up on bicycles. Of course everything we were doing is not quite legal. Praying, giving out bibles – definitely not ok with the Chinese government. God’s grace covered us, and her, in that moment. Thank you Jesus!
We never saw the lady again. We like to think that Jesus came in her room at night and healed her leg all the way. We think that’s why it didn’t grow out the last 2 inches….so Jesus could do it personally, and reveal Himself to her. We also like to think she will be the woman at the well, who went back and told her entire village about meeting Jesus, and everyone came to know the King of Kings.
This was a perfect day. A little bit closer to living naturally supernatural.
He’s so good all the time. He’s always, always, always better than you could ever imagine.
here’s some more pictures from China!
chinese tea time = tofu, mochi, boiled quail eggs and tea.
we love the Shanghai dumplings!!!!
long lines form to get an order of these delicious Shanghainese
dumplings (xiao long bao) at the famous Nanxiang Mantou Dian.
Pudong skyline at night.
high tea at the Peninsula!
the Bund. dozens of historic buildings lining the Huangpu River.
the Bund at night. gorgeous.
random people take your picture all the time in China…
sometimes they actually ask to be in the photo with you.
there’s nothing i LOVE more than a moped ride in Asia.
