Month 8 in Nicaragua was a crazy month. Because we were finding new ministries for the World Race to connect with we moved around a lot and met a lot of people. God grew me the most this month.
Unsung heroes was the ministry we worked on. We traveled around the country finding new ministries, telling about the World Race, touring ministries, playing with kids in orphanages, speaking on a TV show, visiting with pastors and more. The month was an adventure. It was a short ministry month because we had a week of debrief at the end and Parent Vision Week was also in Nicaragua.
The two weeks we had doing Unsung heroes were sweet. We were completely Spirit led and so we spent a lot of time praying and setting aside time for the Lord together as a team each day for worship and prayer. Because we sought Him first as a team, we started seeing amazing things.
You may remember me writing about our special 6 hour prayer and time with the Lord when He spoke to us. Something I didn’t share was that I felt weird during the prayer time. I loved it, felt special, had never experienced anything like it and was amazed by Him. But, I didn’t feel into it like the other girls. I didn’t know why and felt a little ashamed.
That night we were recording our experience of the day and I was completely out of it. My Spirit wanted to be there and revel in the glory of God, but my flesh was uneasy, tired and just wanted to finish. Towards the end, I got up to use the restroom and the hardcore battling started.
An argument was raging inside of me. I knew I needed to share that with my team and get it out into the light because Satan couldn’t use whatever He was using to torture me anymore if I brought it into the light. I knew my team would ask the Lord for guidance and speak truth into me and even though I was extremely shamed, weak and embarrassed. After I shared with them how I was feeling, teammates kept saying how they were going to ask me or bring me into their room and pray for me. After sharing and starting to pray, a couple teammates started praying in tongues and my other teammate began to hear the interpretation and speak it.
Earlier that day, I had been the only one that God didn’t specifically speak to. So now, He began to speak. I was sitting on the bed and literally folded in half (and I can’t do that now if I tried). I knew I was being tormented and I wanted freedom but I had no idea from what. All I knew was that I had felt like this for so long and I wanted break-through from it, whatever it was.
I knew there was more.
One of my teammates has the Spiritual gift of visually seeing evil spirits. While all this was going on, she could apparently sense and see them. She could sense it earlier in the day but the Lord had told her it wasn’t time yet. At this time it was after midnight.
As I was bent over, everyone was praying over me and the Lord was speaking to me, I began to see a vision of myself sitting at the feet of the throne of God. I didn’t know what was going on but I felt peace and safety in His throne room. At one point He bent down on His knees and started caressing my face. A while later, I saw a vision of when in The Lord of the Rings where Sauramon has possessed king Theodin and Gandalf casts him out. I was sitting in the throne room of God and I saw that flash before my eyes.
At this point, my body was leaning back off the bed and my teammates were holding me up. I physically was not in control of my body. After a teammate told whatever was oppressing me to leave, a small tear fell from my eye. The girls said there was a terrible odor in the room around that time as well, another sign of the enemy.
I was free!
I had no idea what had happened but all I knew is that I felt like I was a kid again. I was, because the last time I had felt that free was when I was under 11 or 12. After that, I have always known that something drastic changed but never new what it was. Praise Jesus I had been delivered! My teammate said that she saw the spirits of manipulation, confusion and shame. All three resonated with my Spirit. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I had been oppressed by manipulation, confusion and shame since I was around 11 or 12.
It was then that I realized what I felt the Lord had been telling me at Training Camp almost a year ago when I was asking for Spiritual freedom and breakthrough. I kept hearing “Friday”. I didn’t know what that meant and thought it meant the friday of training camp week. Now I knew. It was about 1am on Friday morning. He had told me 10 months before! I have never been so free and in love with the Lord. After crying out for years to hear more from the Lord and to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit more, it was now coming into fruition.
I have never felt so much conviction without condemnation. I have heard so much clearer and often from the Lord than I ever have! I didn’t know any different, yet I did know that I had something different, pure and beautiful as a child. It has been the most beautiful and intimate 2 months with the Lord!
About a week later was Parent Vision Trip where my parents came out to visit and do ministry with me! We met and built relationships with so many people that week along with getting to reunite after 8 months. It was beautiful. It was hard, but mostly rewarding and beautifully freeing! Reconcilliation and restoration happened and we began to walk in our new relationship!
As you can see, God did amazing things during my month in Nicaragua! Why wouldn’t it be my best month!? I was delivered from an over 12 year oppression and experienced reconcilliation with my parents! I never would have thought it up. It was so obvious that everything that happened was God. I had nothing to do with it and I am only the grateful and humble recipient. I am so blessed and excited to share the new part of my testimony of what God has done and is doing in my life. Month 8 in Nicaragua will always be remembered as a month of sweet freedom and grace from the Lord.
