Yet, I found myself forgetting that truth so easily this past month.
I have been journeying with team Selah for about one month and a half. We have been moving quite a lot since we became a team to be honest.
Unpacking and repacking, taking one bus after another, discovering a new city and new people every 3 days, was kind of the energetic yet energy consuming rhythm of our first few weeks.
God has been putting it in our hearts to go to the Coast since the very first listening prayer we had as a team, back in mid-January in Colombia. It never happened and we couldn’t make it work for various reasons. We still faithfully and prayerfully brought it back to God, asking for clarity, for the right timing as well as for opportunities.
Finally the Lord led us in Canoa, a small fishing and surfing town in the west coast of Ecuador and asked us to stay put there for about 3 weeks. Such a big difference from what we had been used to. We finally had a place where we could fully unpack our bags. We started to build relationships, started having our favorite little spot to get wifi, having a daily routine…
It felt good…
Too good maybe ?
Soon enough our days looked dangerously like vacationing and we all kind of seemed to be in a spiritual slumber.
Alert, Alert !!!
All my senses awakened and with my own strength I tried to bring our days back to a focus on ministry and I must admit I tried to make things happen while forgetting ministry is everywhere, anywhere, anytime.
I can tell you… Nothing much changed…
Until a Sunday morning during which the topic was brought to light to the team and together we fought against it in prayers.
The day after, as we were in a neighbor city to do grocery shopping, we passed by a seemingly homeless man without legs.
My natural eyes saw him.
My spiritual eyes saw him too.
But I did nothing.
We were on a mission to go grocery shopping.
We passed by him a second time to get food from a nearby restaurant for our lunch.
I saw him again, but I quickly turned away my eyes because the sight of his missing legs was making me feel uncomfortable.
I did wonder how we could love him… Should I stop and pray?
I hesitated. But I did not stop.
We were on a mission to get food.
But I did pray a mental prayer for that man. Maybe just to make me feel better ?
As we kept walking, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Acts 3. Peter saying to the man who was lame from birth : ” Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk.”
I felt convicted.
“But what can I give to that man Lord? ” was my immediate question.
I must admit that in my own unbelief I didn’t think that the legs of the man would grow back if we prayed for him, nor would it change his life’s conditions.
Suddenly, my teammate Jordan asked me if I would be willing to pray for that man. I immediately felt a release in my spirit and I felt the boldness that I was obviously lacking up to now in that particular situation rushing through me.
I was ready to go back to see that man right away.
“Buy him a meal” is suddenly what I heard from God.
Oh !!!! That I could give indeed.
So I did.
And Jordan and I went back to that man and soon the rest of our team joined us.
What I thought would be a simple and short act of love of giving food became a two-hour delightful and fun divine appointment with Manuel, one of the sweetest and most joyful souls I have ever met.
Language barrier was not an issue (you have to know that my Spanish is almost nonexistent).
Time flew. It was easy. It was simple. It was life-giving. It was ministry.
I realized that buying Manuel a meal was just the means that God inspired to actually make us go back and spend time with him.
So what did we have that we could give to Manuel ?
Way more than I thought…
Love. Time. Attention. Somebody to talk to. Ears to listen to his story. Laughter. Smiles. Hugs. Prayers. Food to nourish his body. Food to nourish his soul.
It made him feel seen. Special.
It made him realize once more how God is good, all the time…
But it also renewed my perspective of what is ministry and what it means to be a vessel for God.
Yet… What did it take for me to realize it?
2 avoided opportunities.
The conviction of the Holy Spirit.
A friend to step in…
No matter what, I am so thankful that the Lord used that one encounter to remind me that ministry can be easy and happens when following His voice and His prompting.
It showed me again of God’s grace and patience for his children and the fact that he can use us powerfully as his hands and feet even if we feel like we have nothing to give.
I am still meditating on Peter’s statement : “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk ” and though I must say that I am still not entirely sure of what I do have to give people, more importantly, I desire a boldness and fearlessness such as Peter with the firm confidence that the Holy Spirit within me is gonna move and guide me as I go.
So I would love your prayers :).
You can also read here Jordan’s perspective of our encounter with Manuel :
http://jordanharrington.theworldrace.org/post/manuels-challenge
