A Year of Prayer Results in a Miracle: Kevin Is Healed
For the month of October, leading up to Orphan Sunday on November 3rd, we are sharing stories on the theme of adoption and orphan care – stories of street kids, orphans, and children at risk, and the ways our World Racers have seen God care for them. We'll share stories of Racers caring for children, fighting for them, and even bringing them home to stay.
And on Monday, November 4th, we'll share a special story that is close to our hearts.
Today's story is from Steven Reed, a two-time World Race alumnus from the July 2011 W Squad and the January 2013 P Squad. Steven met a special little boy his first time in Swaziland, and over the next year and a half he got to see how extravagantly God cares for orphans and answers our prayers.
I was in Swaziland a year ago, and little boy named Kevin stole my heart. (His name is really Kelvin, but he can't pronounce the "L" in his name so we just called him Kevin.)
I remember the first day I met him – I had arrived in Swaziland from Mozambique, fresh off of a month at the Kedesh orphanage that changed my life. I stumbled into the El Shaddai orphanage wondering if I would find a place or a child that I loved as much as a the boys of Kedesh. I walked up the path to the baby house trying to talk myself into starting another month of playing with kids, and I resolved to just get through the month. I was tired of investing in others and ready to just coast through the last four months of my Race. I decided to hold my love at an arms length.
I noticed Kevin almost immediately among the other kids. He was small and easily overlooked. The other kids were more endearing, and he didn't immediately run to swarm me like the other kids did. But I saw him sitting alone on the playground, and I went over to him.
I think the Lord sometimes has a crazy way of showing me the kid no one else sees, that doesn't seem to want to be noticed.
This was Kevin that first day. I picked him up, looked him in the eyes, and said, "Do you want to swing?" He nodded yes, and we walked over to the swing. This is where I noticed something was different about Kevin. He walked bow-legged – his legs were angled out at the knee, forcing him to wobble along much slower than the other kids. When he arrived at the swings, I placed him in the seat and began to push him. He gave me a huge smile, and we went on on like this for a little while. Toward the end I thought he might be getting tired, and I held my arms out in a motion that (I thought) said "Jump, and I'll catch you!" Kevin shook his head back and forth. "No" he seemed to say. I retracted my arms, and the next thing I knew, Kevin had made a Superman dive towards me…reaching out…and then flat on his face. Oops.
Yup, my first real encounter with Kevin was him screaming bloody murder as I held him close, our communication at the swings a dismal failure in cross cultural understanding, or maybe just the understanding between a child and an adult. But what was not hard to see in that moment was that this kid needed love, someone to hold onto, someone who made him feel special and looked after. And so began our friendship.
I don't think I left his side for the entire month. Every time I came up to his house Kevin would drop whatever he was doing, scream my name, and run over to me and jump into my arms. I learned more Kevin as the month progressed. About how he was abandoned as a two-year-old and brought to El Shaddai so malnourished and underdeveloped that it took extensive phyiscal therapy just to get him to being able to crawl. About how it was a miracle he had survived his first few months at El Shaddai, let alone almost two years. About how this sweet little boy had stolen the hearts of so many different people.
As much as I had grown to love Kevin, my heart still broke for him, knowing he would likely never be able to have the surgery required to fix his legs and allow him to live a normal life.
As we packed our bags to leave Swaziland at the end of the month and begin our long travel day to Thailand, I went to say goodbye to Kevin. I walked up the path that had now become so familiar, took Kevin by the hand, lifted him up over my shoulders, and walked him down the path toward the gate leading to the entrance of El Shaddai. Before I said goodbye, I wanted to do one last thing – pray for his legs. A few of us gathered in the toddler house and laid hands on him, praying for healing, praying for this little boy to be whole, believing, hoping.
These moments with Kevin were special, but for some reason it didn't feel like the last time I would see him.
Exactly a year later I was back on the field, driving from Maputo toward Swaziland after my first month of squad leading, heading back to a place I never actually believed I'd be returning to, and certainly not this soon. We had two teams at El Shaddai, and we were dropping them off first. My heart was racing. Would Kevin remember me? Would he even be there? Would he be the same sweet kid I fell in love with a year before?
As we drove up the windy road dirty road leading to El Shaddai, I couldn't contain my excitement. We pulled into the complex and as soon as we approached the playground outside Kevin's house I jumped out of the van and ran toward the gate where I knew Kevin would be. I spotted him immediately, leaning on the fence, hands holding on to the metal wire, gazing expectantly.
"Kevin!" I shouted, and ran up toward him. It was the moment of truth.
"Steeeeven?" he asked, questioningly.
I've never been happier. He remembered me! And better yet, he remembered my name. This was too good to be true. He turned around and ran towards the gate and out of the yard and rounded the corner toward me where I met him halfway. He jumped into my arms and I picked him up and hugged him close, then threw him up in the air airplane style. His smile was the same and his eyes were just as bright as I remembered.
But there was something different about him, something I couldn't quite place.
Then it hit me – his legs. His legs looked different. I put him down and watched him walk around, examining closely. He looked normal, nothing out of place. He was running around like a normal kid. Wait, what, he looked normal? Am I seeing this right? I picked him back up, unsure if what I was seeing was true.
His legs were straight. He had been healed!
Sure enough, I asked Charmaine, the orphanage director, about Kevin and she confirmed he had been healed. She had gone to South Africa for a couple months and when she came back his legs were straight. It apparently had happened over the course of the last year.
I almost started crying. I couldn't believe how much the Lord loved Kevin, and how much he loved me to allow me to be part of this – to allow me to come back and see how he had healed Kevin. Our prayers had been answered. I never expected to see Kevin again, let alone see him healed.
It's funny how the Lord allowed me to see Kevin before I saw his legs. I think that was intentional – the Lord not letting me see his legs right away. He wanted me to see Kevin how he sees him – whole, his precious child, perfectly made. He doesn't see disfigurements or shortcomings, and neither should I. Then I saw his legs, and was able to rejoice with him and celebrate.
The Lord taught me a lot through this about praying expectantly, about believing he will show up when we ask things of him. The Lord is still working even when we don't see it, even when we are frustrated that yet another prayer went unheard.
I've learned to keep asking, to keep believing, to keep expecting. He will show up, I promise.
This time I got to see it, to touch it, and feel it. And it was so special.
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