“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things then these, because I am going to the father.” John 14:12
I found out in Kenya, in Febuary that one of the girls who we had ministered to at a bar in Thailand in December had decided to leave the bars and the prostitution to go work in a hotel instead. I was blown away and so so excited. I praised God for his goodness. But then I couldn’t help but wonder about all the other girls, lady boys and customers that we had spent night after night ministering to. The older bar mom with teenage sons who never smiled; the lead lady boy and performer who told me he wasn’t happy but he couldn’t make this type of money anywhere else; the young bartender who’s sister danced on the bar he mixed drinks behind; the man who told me I was stupid for believing theres a God as he sat, alone, with a drink in his hand and a girl dancing above him, barely clothed. Have they left the bars? are they still alive? have they been convicted?
“Have faith in God, Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, Go throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” Mark 11:22-24
In Kenya we saw God heal Esters thumb as I told you in a previous blog. I praise God for her healing, for using me in that situation, for showing me his power. But I couldn’t help but think what about all the other people I prayed for. Like the young girl with the abnormally big hand, or the little girls mom who was sick in bed, or the lady who was still having complications and pain months after a misscarriage, the little boy with malaria, the young boy addicted to glue. Have they been healed? Are they still in pain? Are they still held captive by their addiction?
“Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do no give up.” Galatians 6:9
In Tanzania, we went out to a village and we were walking around the market place sharing Jesus with people when Micheal noticed a lady behind the counter at her store and she clearly wasn’t well. She told us she had malaria. He asked if we could pray for her, it took a lot of convincing but she finally agreed to let me hold her hand and pray. We left. The next day we were in the same market place, we headed over to see how she was. She looked completly different, she smiled and waved her arms in the air when she saw us. God had healed her. I was so excitied. We praised God for his goodness, for healing her and for using us. But then I couldn’t help but think what about the 2 little girls that we had prayed for their umbillical herinas, or the man bed ridden from cancer or the man consumed by alcohol. Do the shirts of the little girls fit like they are suppossed to or are they still protuding where the hernia is? Have they been saved from the ridicual of their peers for being different? Did that old man get out of the bed and walk? Is he able to provide for his wife and 8 children again? Is the man still consumed by alcohol or has he been set free?
“There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun, time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
Everything God does or doesn’t do in our eyes may not make any sense. It may sometimes seem a little weird or it may take longer then we think it should. The truth is “making sense” and “normal” and “time” are words that we define by the worlds standards. God is not of this world. If we understood everything God did or if everything “made sense,” was “normal” or happened in our “time” why would we need a God? There would be no need for faith. So even though I do not know what happen to every person I have prayed for, I know that God has heard my prayers and I have faith that he will answer them in HIS time and according to his perfect plan for each of them.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1
” He has made everything beautiful in its time…” Ecclesiastes 3:11
