This last week has been different. I’ve thought deeper, I’ve listened harder, I’ve squeezed my eyes tighter but I see black. I saw nothing. Until I started to ask God what I’ve been wanting and needing to know. God has appeared to me in strange ways, not necessarily in a physical form but in my mind and thoughts. He has been showing me pictures and scenes in my mind. I want to think they are just my own thoughts and my imagination running crazy. But I do believe when I ask God to show me something I need to see, he shows me. This sounds insane and maybe even stupid but asking God and actually listening to him through prayer, it can make someone’s life change. From your own life, to a complete stranger’s life, it can be changed just by asking God what you need to see or what you need to know.
We were on our way to ministry one morning, so my team decided we wanted to do listening prayer. We stood there on the bus being jostled by its turns and stops but we still closed our eyes. I asked God, What do you need to show me today? Who do you want me to encounter today? I listened as I watched the city pass, then He showed me a person. It was a short woman sitting bent over in a chair and she had her head in her hands. God made me feel her sadness even though I couldn’t see her face. My team shared what they had heard from the Lord. Someone else on my team said they saw someone with sad eyes. My leader came with us and he said that he saw hands that were being held out, almost like they needed help or they were hurt.
So throughout the day we painted the walls for Pan de Vida, but when we went home my team leader saw this woman, she kept looking at her and felt the sadness in her eyes. So we started talking to her and we tried to pray for her (she could understand some English) so we asked her if she needed us to pray for anything specific for her. But she didn’t want us to pray for her because in her mind she thought prayer was an intimate thing where only the pastor should be allowed to pray for her. We didn’t end up praying for her but we read scripture together. Then my teammate Kara asked her if she knew sign language because she saw how the woman was using her hands to explain certain words. She ended up speaking to Kara in sign language and teaching her different words in Spanish sign language because it’s different from American sign language. So after we talked to her for about half an hour we realized that what we prayed for during listening prayer came true and God validated that someone’s hands would be used to speak His word. I learned that even if we didn’t use God to heal someone, we met someone who God needed to reveal to us so that we could come closer to His word in a new way.
“Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.” (Psalm 25:5)
