This is long overdue. But I still wanted to share with y’all.
8/2/11 (Ecuador Day 5. World Race Day 33)
The school started devotionals today. Christian (the
principal’s son-in-law) went around to the 3rd, 4th and 9th
graders with his guitar to worship and pray for the students. The Holy Spirit
was definitely working. We could sense such a strong presence of God in each of
those classrooms. Many students wept and opened up their hearts and told us
what they were going through. I thought that the students were used to this in
school but I found out that today was the first day they were introducing this
in the time table! And to have this kind of response if just incredible and it
cannot be anything but the Holy Spirit moving and working among us.
We went back to school at 10pm to pray for the school and to
do intercessory prayers for the students. I am utterly amazed that the
principal is willing to humble herself before God and cry out for the students.
If the authority in every school would do the same, what amazing changes there
will be in our education system. Psalm
149:4 For the Lord delights in His people; He crowns the humble with victory.
Matthew 5: 5 Blessed are the humble in heart, for they will inherit the whole
earth. When we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will bless us and we
will have victory and will inherit the whole earth! What a promise! I see God
doing amazing things here. He has such great plans for this place.
9/2/11 (Ecuador Day 6. World Race Day 34)
God has been revealing to me these past two days just how
much pain and brokenness there are in the students. The people here are very
open about their families. They talk about each other’s broken families like
it’s an ordinary, everyday thing. Many of the students come from single parent
families and they live with their mom. The parents are either divorced or the
dad had passed away. Some still see their fathers once a week but some just
hates their dad. When we went around praying for the students during
devotionals yesterday, I just felt so much pain in a 16 year-old boy whose
parents are divorced and the father lives in America. He just started weeping
as we were worshipping and praying. When I went over to pray for him and ask
him to share what was on his heart, for a minute I couldn’t pray but just
started weeping as well. I felt God’s heart just aching for him, so much hurt and
pain inside of him. I learned that a 14 year-old girl cut herself because her
father has mental problems and is always angry at her and her sister. They
never see their dad. Another 11 year-old boy’s mother just passed away two
weeks ago and he acts like nothing had happened when he is in school, but goes
home and locks himself up in his room. Another 8 year-old little girl whose
parents are actually missionaries feels very lonely and shuts herself off and
wonders why her parents ever had her if they have no time for her.
It’s funny that one of my prayer requests for this Race was
to have a compassionate heart for His people as too often I find myself being
apathetic about what happens to other people who are faced with disasters. “Ask
and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find”. God has started to
answer that prayer request and softened my heart for people.
God has placed us here to minister to them, to heal the
brokenness and comfort the lonely.
