This past week has been one that I will never forget. Our parents got to come and spend five days with us to work alongside us and get a taste of what it is we do each day. As we headed out for our first morning of mission work, I was kind of nervous to see how our parents would react to it.
We pulled up into one of the most dangerous neighborhoods with our translator in Granada, Nicaragua to prayer walk. Gang activity is high, stabbings occur almost every night, and in general they don’t like outsiders in their neighborhood. We walked through this high poverty area, and I watched as my mom and my teammate Rachel’s parents took in the brokenness of this community. We walked past kids sniffing glue, men with gang memorabilia on their bodies, sewage in the dirt roads, and houses many of us would deem unfit to live in.
As we walked past one house, a woman invited us to sit on her front porch. She pulled up chairs for all five of us and told us a little bit about her story. She explained to us that her lung and left shoulder had been troubling her and causing her a lot of pain. She told us that her marriage has been struggling, her business of making shoes has gotten worse as her marriage has progressively traveled down the wrong path, but that she has faith in God.
She invited us all into her house to show us around a room pointing out family photos on the walls. We saw a picture of her husband, and she explained that what is really heavy on her heart is that her husband isn’t a believer. She wants more than anything for him to experience eternity with Jesus.
After learning all of this about her, we asked her if we could pray for her and her family. We stood in a circle, holding hands and praying over this woman. Rachel’s mom prayed out loud for her, including for healing over this woman’s lung and left shoulder. As she did I heard the woman break out in tears, and glanced up to see her full on sobbing and praying to Jesus.
When we closed the prayer, she explained through her tears that she no longer felt the pain she has been feeling for so long. She told us that earlier that same morning she had prayed to God asking him to send someone into her home to talk to her and pray healing over her. God answered two of her prayers that day. He sent us there, and He chose to heal her pain.
I’ll continue to be praying for her husband’s salvation, but I’m thankful that God is a good Father. He listens to us. He provides miracles every day. He loves us and cares for us. I so often get to see His love shine through these broken communities on the race, and I’m so thankful that our parents got to be with us to experience it for themselves.
