We were sitting on the floor of the biggest classroom in the tutor center (our ministry site for the month.) The clock above the door read 8:45PM. I’ve been up since 6:00AM or so. Tuesday is one of our longest days here and my body was starting to feel it! It didn’t help that the night before my sweet teammate D and I stayed up until the wee hours of the night to do laundry. And it didn’t help that our hosts had just fed us “dessert” for dinner. I glanced at the table with the boxes full with our leftovers: “Oh Martabak! (an Indonesian dessert) Why did I have to have so many slices of you??!?!?!”
We were 45 minutes into our weekly Bible study session. We spent the hour before that sharing testimonies about what God had done for and through us this past week. I looked around the under-the-sea themed classroom with all the people in it: my teammates, the admin staff, a couple of guests, our translator, our ministry host and his elders. “Gosh! I can’t believe my life right now!” I looked around again and this time, my eyes rested on my ministry host and one of his elders. They had the floor and were in the middle of a heated dialogue. It did not look like it was going to end anytime soon. They were just going at it in Sudanese or Indonesian and I had no clue what they were saying: “Hmm. That’s must be how people feel when they hear me speak creole to my fam!”
I then allowed my mind to briefly wander about what I would do after we said our goodbyes. Because if this session was similar to last week’s, I knew we had about 15 more minutes to go and it will end. “God! My first blog on the field! I need to finish it. But I don’t know how. Also, Lord, show me what to write about next!” (By the way, I completed it. As a matter of fact, if you have not done so already, press pause, click here and go back to read it before you finish this one.)
As I started to jot down some key points that I wanted to highlight in my first blog, I heard the Lord say to me: “Do you think it was by accident that on the first couple of days you’ve been here I placed the importance of prayer in your heart?? Look up and look around you again!” I did and He said: “I just made you listen to everyone’s testimonies an hour ago or so. You should know that the stories you just heard: well, prayer played a key role in each of them.”
He then immediately started to flash before my eyes an inventory of all the things that happened throughout the month when we prayed. And He used the FIFO method (for all my accounting people, you know exactly what I mean!) “Wow!” I thought. Then He said: “Yup! That’s right! How about you write about all of those things next!” “OK!” I acquiesced.
And I’m choosing to do just that in this blog. Here is a sneak peek into some of the amazing things that took place after we prayed during my month 1 on the Race.
1. My wisdom tooth started aching a day after I got to my ministry site for the month. I panicked as I fearfully recalled my dentist warning me about the danger of getting a tooth extraction overseas. I prayed to God that He would heal my tooth and make the pain go away (at least until I get back to the US). I prayed then completely forgot about it. A few days later, I passed my toothbrush on it expecting that it would hurt. Surprise: it didn’t! “What! The pain is gone! This is awesome! Ok. I will make sure that I get it check when I come back to the US!”
During the next couple of days, I kept checking it to see if it was healed. On the third day, when I did that, the Lord told me: “Wow! How can you doubt my healing power! I am also hurt because you want to have it checked when you get back home just to make sure it is healed. Do you place more trust on your dentist then me? Steph, you should know this: when I heal, I heal! I don’t do things half way.” Yikes! Let’s just say I had to get on board with this truth super quickly?!?
2. She is the mother figure at the tutor center we are working at this month. And let’s call her Mamie E (I can’t disclose real name). She hugged me and told me to pray for her because she was going to the doctor tomorrow. I asked why. “To get her heart checked,” she replied. It was swollen because of the medication she was taking for her back pain. I asked if my team and I could pray for her back, heart and health right now: she said yes. We took her to one of the classrooms, closed the door behind us and sat her down in the middle of the room. We then formed a circle around her and prayed for her. We prayed. And prayed. By the time we were done and she had to leave, she told us her back pain was 90% gone. Her pain level had decreased from a 10 to a 2!
3. Her name is Dee. She is the coordinator of the tutor center. She was recovering from a bad motorbike accident. Her knee was still hurting and we’ve seen her limp around since the first day we got to our ministry site. My team leader asked her to jump in that same circle (see bullet point #2). She gladly did. We prayed once. After we did, we asked how her knee was feeling. She smiled and replied: “It feels 1000% better!”
4. He lived in the same neighborhood as one of our ministry host’s friends. His name is Mr. O. He had fell down a two-story building and had not been able to sit up and walk. The times he tried to sit up, he couldn’t do it for a long time because his back would start hurting. When asked, he totally believed that God could heal him. Therefore, we prayed. We worshipped as well. Then we prayed some more. We left his house without seeing the miracle happen.
The next day, I found out that five hours after we left his house, he got hungry. His wife told him to sit up and eat. He did just that: He sat up and ate. Then, he needed to use to the bathroom. The man who was not able to walk for the past weeks GOT UP and WALKED to the bathroom ALL by HIMSELF with NO HELP!
5. One of our teammates has a high tolerance for pain. Therefore, seeing her tear up on our way back home one evening because of the sharp pain she was feeling on her side must meant that this pain must really hurt. She immediately went upstairs to lie down because she couldn’t handle it. We gathered upstairs and started praying for her. After we were done, I remember rising from my kneeling position and opening my eyes and there she was just sitting up, Indian style and a huge smile on her face: “I’m fine. The pain is gone!” To say that I was shocked would be an understatement! Come on Papa!
As you can see, I am only sharing 5 stories. However, I can promise you: the list could go and on. This blog is not enough for me to write out ALL the things that God did for and through us this month. Don’t even get me started on what He accomplished through the rest of the squad. Or to even take it a step further what He did through all the Racers who left in January. Or other missionaries. Or His other disciples who lives in the US? Or…well, do you see where I am going with this? I hope so. And mind you, it is only Month One for us.
My team leader put it perfectly: these things shouldn’t surprise me. Yet, I am still shocked each time it happens. However, it shouldn’t because I was born again into Christ to do this. WE were born again into Christ to do this. WE were made new and whole again to do this.
Thus, I pray as you are reading this you’re not as stunned because that is just what Jesus does. It’s normal for Him. When you look at it, His word says that if we believe in Him we will be doing the same works He has done and even greater works (John 14:12). It’s time to start embracing what this Truth and learn to live it fully.
If you need more convincing, how about you try it and see for yourself!
Sooooooo, got prayer??
You are awesome for reading: thanxies so much!!!
A few things:
- One more healing took place that same afternoon when healing #2 and #3 happened. So check out Eric’s blog to see what the Lord revealed to him about these healings on that afternoon! Oh sooo juicy! Sooo good!
Also, check out Ben, my team leader’s blog too! He beautifully expanded on the same stories. - Please consider partner with me on this journey and support me financially. I am $1,087 away from my Feb 28 financial deadline. I am also $5,704 away from being fully funded. If you’re feeling led to, please hit the “Donate!” button on the top right corner of this page. Any amount is welcome. Thank you so much in advance!
- Lastly, if you have anything that you would like to pray for, please leave it in the comments below, send me a Facebook or IG message (@sincerelystcyr) or email me at [email protected]
