As we reached the plateau at the top of the mountain, all piled in the back of pickup trucks, we gazed out at the city dump of Tegucigalpa. The blue sky was full of soaring vultures and the sun reflected off piles of trash. Dogs and cattle were all rummaging through the garbage searching for food. People were running towards garbage trucks that had just arrived, hoping to find food and any recyclables to sell for their income.
We parked the trucks, preparing to serve 200 people spaghetti for lunch. The dump is considered a very dangerous place, but because Mark and his team have been coming every week for years, the people know them. Men line up on one side of the truck, women and children on the other.
The smell was strong, but as we had ascended the hill, one of the girls on my squad had prayed that the smell wouldn’t overwhelm or distract us…and it didn’t. I found myself in the back of the truck handing out bags of water. I focused on the words spoken to us before we left:
“Look in their eyes. They are just like you and me. Life just has them in a different circumstance. When you give them a drink, you are giving a drink to Jesus."
"Look to see Jesus in their eyes.”
So I looked. I smiled and watched as they smiled in return. I saw many pairs of eyes. Sometimes all you could see were their eyes, wearing masks to keep from getting diseases, but also to keep from being recognized. For some, the shame of working in the dump is too much to bear.
I realized at one moment that I had chosen to be in the truck giving out water because that’s what was easiest for me. To be doing something with my hands. That was what was most comfortable. To be busy serving so I didn’t have to get out of the truck and talk to people who didn’t speak my language.
So I thought to myself, “What would be the least comfortable thing for me?”
To be out of this truck praying for people.
So I got out of the truck, found a few others, and asked if we could go pray. We headed over to a woman whose son was mute.
We prayed, and although he didn’t speak that day, we are confident that he will one day speak and it will be a testimony to all the people at the dump who have known him his entire life to be mute.
When we finished praying, we noticed that Danae, one of our team leaders, had been praying for a young woman. She doesn't have a job, spends her days searching for trash to recycle and make money, sometimes even spending the night in the dump…and she is 7 months pregnant.
Initially, the woman had been crying while Danae prayed, but then she passed out. Devin, an EMT, came to examine her vitals. Her pulse was at 30 and she was only taking 7 or so breaths per minute. The signs suggested that she was going into cardiac arrest. Having no access to an ambulance or medical equipment, and knowing that doing CPR could potentially break a rib, possibly injuring the baby and/or causing internal bleeding, we had no options.
So Devin stepped back and said, “Guys, we have to pray.”
At once, our hands were on her, praying. People were speaking life into her body, commanding healing in the name of Jesus. With the woman’s head in his hands, Devin kept speaking to her, “Come on. Wake up. Open your eyes. Look at me. Look at me.”
Marielle (the same woman of faith in my earlier blog from training camp) felt the Lord say to touch the woman’s heart so she tapped it and at once the woman’s eyes began to flutter. Slowly, she came back to us.
Jesus gave us a miracle. Devin said he’s seen people with far better vitals than her die and never come back.
While we had been praying, I was on my knees at her feet, lacking confidence, fearing that this woman was going to die. I wanted a miracle. I wanted an answer to prayer, but I doubted it, questioning whether or not the Lord would intervene. Thankfully, the Lord works even when we don’t have complete faith.
As we consciously put ourselves in situations where He can work, our faith and confidence grows as we witness Him move. We are called to step out of fear, not allowing it to hold us captive (by keeping us in the back of trucks when we should be out walking amongst the broken-hearted). All I had to do was step out of the truck, and God allowed me to witness a miracle.
All He asks of you is that you are willing to put yourself in situations where His glory shines.
Will you choose today to be willing?
(pictures courtesy of Kirsten Hughes)
