I should start by telling you that things like this usually don’t happen to me. They are not normal or common in my walk as a Christian. In fact…they NEVER really happen. Before I get into the story I think I’ll give you some back ground on things that I’d been wrestling throughout the World Race-especially in regards to faith. As many of you know, I come from a traditional Christian background. I grew up in a Christian home and for as long as I can remember I’ve read my Bible, gone to Church and prayed. I believe that the Bible is the authoritative, 100% true word given to us by God. One thing that I had always struggled with, however, has been the miraculous. You see, I’ve always believed that God had the power to perform miracles, but I just hadn’t seen them. Don’t get me wrong I have seen God provide in awesome ways by guiding me and protecting me throughout my 26 years on this earth. The miraculous that I’ve struggled with has been the crazy, supernatural, “did that just really happen” kind of miraculous. You know the blind seeing, the deaf hearing and ailments being healed…CRAZY STUFF! In particular, verses such as these really challenged me:
“(Jesus speaking)…..I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
John 16:23-24
“Is any of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up….”
James 5:14-15
These verses from the Bible clearly tell us that whatever we ask for in Jesus Christ’s name will be done and that the Lord will heal! I’m sure I’d read them countless times before, but they finally came to life this past Thursday. Here’s the story….
For some time our team had been planning to do an outreach in Nepal. We had been working with the local church, helping out with the youth group and teaching at local public school. Several people on the team, however, felt a strong desire to go out into the community. So we scouted out downtown Kathmandu and found a great location, a busy park in the city named Ratna Park. We decided to head down in the morning meaning that we would be without a translator. So we boarded the bus with a guitar a mandolin and an air of expectancy.
We arrived at the park around noon and it was moderately crowded. So we decided to find a nice grassy spot and just spend some time in prayer. After praying for a while, we decided to break out the instruments and do a little worship. As we sang through several songs, slowly a crowd gathered. It was just a couple people at first, but soon we were surrounded by onlookers! Boldly one of the girls on our team, Birdie, stood up and told the people that we were worshipping because we loved Jesus Christ and that we wanted to pray for people. I scanned the crowd and randomly asked a guy if he could speak English and he said “yes.” We asked him if he would be willing to translate for us and he obliged. Then Birdie said that she felt that someone in the crowd pain in their back, so we asked. Then we waited and waited and waited….
Finally, an older woman crept through the crowd and the translator told us that she had back pain! Each person on the team then gathered around her, placed our hands on her back and began praying fervently for her healing. After we finished praying for the woman, we asked the translator to ask how she felt. She said she felt great and then yelled, “Praise Jesus!” As we were praying for the woman, another man came forward saying that he had back pain. An interesting thing happened as we began to pray for him. We placed our hands on his back as we had the previous woman, but as we prayed he began to shake! It felt as if electricity was flowing through him! We began to smile and pray more fervently for him. After we had finished praying for him, we again asked how he felt and he smiled and said his back felt good! After these two healings, the crowd began to intensify and people started stepping forward left and right mentioning back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain and pain in their feet. Literally for the next 4 hours, we gathered around people and prayed and people were healed! It was incredible to see God’s power working through prayers of faith. No one on our team had experienced anything like it before! It was also really encouraging for our ministry contact because people showed an interest in reading Christian literature and Bibles we were distributing after they were healed. I’m excited to see how God uses the healings that occurred to bring about his Kingdom in Nepal.
The day was like none other than I’ve experienced in my walk with Jesus Christ. It was amazing to see God show up in such a powerful way! I was encouraged that the same God who cared enough to heal in the past, cares enough to heal in the present! It was also a reminder that as Jesus says in the Bible, “Nothing is impossible with God..”
