Have you ever been told that you are the answer to someone’s prayers? Have you ever been told that you are the answer to a whole region of Thai Christian’s prayers?
Me either…until a few days ago.
“We have been praying for your team to come for so long” said Pastor John. “No foreigners have ever been to my town or my church before. We are so thankful that God sent you here to be with us. We believe that God has sent you to help destroy the mission of evil that exists here in Thailand.”
Wow, what??
It’s humbling. It’s honoring. It’s weighty. It’s exciting. It’s fun!
As some of you may know, my team was pretty much in the dark about what ministry we were going to be doing in Thailand. Up until the night before we flew out of Nepal, we didn’t even know what area of Thailand we would be living in. While other teams were praying and preparing their hearts for the upcoming month, my team was frantically trying to figure out if we were going to be sleeping in random hostels around Bangkok on an ‘Ask the Lord’ month, or (what we had hoped for was) a month on the sandy beaches of Phuket doing ministry from our hammocks while simultaneously attending to some much needed tan-lines.
Not surprisingly, what God had in store was infinitely better than either of the above options.
For some reason, God saw it fit to choose my team and I to fulfill the persistent prayers of these people. In his wisdom He hand picked the 6 of us to be the first American Christians that most of these Thai believers have ever seen. Because of His grace and mercy, he allowed my team to receive easily the most heartfelt hospitality any of us have ever experienced in our lives.
It didn’t take long for God to put us to work.
A couple hours after we got off the bus that brought us to our host’s town, we hopped in a van and headed up to a mountain village. We were in awe the natural beauty of Thailand as we drove further into the dense jungle forests.
Pastor John explained to us that we were on our way to pray for a young girl who had previously been demon possessed. Her mother and father both died in a flash flood while collecting food for the family on a mountainside, so she is now under the loving care of her grandmother. PJ (our nickname for Pastor John) told us that he had been walking down the village roads one day, praying for the people to come to know Christ, when he was called into this house. This girl, Oop Eep, had to be tied up to a pole in the house because she would jump on anyone who entered the house and bite them and then herself.
The grandmother told PJ that they had tried everything to help ease whatever spirit was tormenting this poor child. Nothing had worked. So PJ prayed for her in Jesus name and the evil had to leave!! GO JESUS!! Also because of this, her grandmother became a believer! GO JESUS AGAIN!!!
Just recently, Oop Eep lost her ability to walk. Her grandmother called PJ and asked him to come and pray for her again. As soon as we arrived at the house, it was obvious to us that Oop Eep probably had something similar to autism. After some initial hello’s and some worship, my team gathered around this adorable child and prayed for the Lord to restore her ability to walk. We prayed for supernatural strength for the grandmother as she is the only one caring for a child with autism. We prayed for provision for this small family who has no ability to work for food or money.
Although we didn’t see any physical healing in the moment, we thanked the Lord for His faithfulness to fulfill his promises. We thanked Him for His provision for this family so far, and for His unending love that is sure to make a way where there seems to be none.
Oop Eep’s grandmother is worried about what will happen to her granddaughter when she is too old to care for her. It is obvious that she loves Oop Eep so much, and desires that she get the best care possible for the rest of her life. Please join us in praying that God makes the way abundantly clear for this sweet girl’s future. We know and trust in our good, good Father’s ability to care for His children.
As if we didn’t already know that God is a God of abundance, the story of our first day didn’t end there! Our next stop was at the house of an older woman who had become a Christain two years ago.She told us that she had been praying for our team to come every single day for over a year, and that she was so thankful that God had sent us to be with her family of believers.
We came to find out that she had taken a bad fall down her staircase four years ago, and ever since then had not been able to walk without the help of crutches. At a closer look, it was obvious that her calf muscles had severely atrophied from the lack of use, and her feet had healed at incorrect angles from poor medical care after her fall. She moved very slowly from one place to another, and her pain was apparent.
After a few minutes, she asked us to pray for her legs; that she would be able to walk again without any pain. How could we say no?! We started praying, confidently believing that the Lord would heal her right then and there because of her faith. She had believed for our team to come for so long, and now she was believing that the Lord would give her the strength to walk again.
AND GUESS WHAT!!!?? HE DID JUST THAT!!!!
Because God is a healer, this woman was able to walk around and dance with NO PAIN for the FIRST TIME IN FOUR YEARS!!! Praise the Lord!!! The presence of the Spirit was palpable in the room as we clapped and rejoiced in God’s unending love and faithfulness. Jehovah Rapha showed up that day, and we could not have been more overjoyed.
I am sure that I will continue to ask the Lord why he chose me to be an answer to so many people’s prayers this month. But, man, I am so humbled and so grateful that He did. I in no way deserve this honor, yet God continues, as He has done so many times before, to use broken vessels as the messengers of His good news. He chooses the most unlikely people to carry out His will. He uses people who choose to say ‘yes’ in the smallest ways to show His strength through their weaknesses. I am so lucky to be one of His many, many vessels in this world.
And that was only day one.
