I was trying to think of a good introduction, but couldn’t think of much so I will just dive right in.
Tuesday night I was dreaming. This may not seem like a big deal but I almost never remember my dreams. And when I do they are of little to no consequence; but this dream was different. I don’t remember clearly how I got into the situation or where I was. But I remember that I was with a man who had a leg that was much shorter than the other and he couldn’t walk. I prayed over Him these words: “Dear Father, I first want to acknowledge your presence and thank you that you are here. I want to thank you for your great love. Your love for all people and your love for us. I thank you for loving us enough to die for us. You are so so good to us. It is because of your love that I pray healing over this man. It is your will for him to be healed so I thank you for healing him now. In Jesus’ name I release healing over this man. Thank you Jesus. Amen.” To my great astonishment His leg grew out and he was able to walk. Then I was with another man whose foot was all warped and disfigured. I prayed much the same pray and his foot was made well. I was so greatly astonished!! More surprised that I have ever felt in my life! God, what is going on I thought! Who am I to do such works? Then I awoke.
What does this mean, Lord? The only response I got was that I need to step out in faith. That’s been the consistent theme of the my time here in Guatemala. As I did my morning devo I felt strongly that the Lord was telling me to announce this to my squad. I really didn’t want to. But I did; as our squad devo time ended I got everyone’s attention and told them all what’s been going on in my life. How the Lord has been greatly stretching me and these three weeks I’ve heard Him telling me to step out in faith more and more. I told them my dream and invited anyone at all to come up to me anytime and ask for healing.
One of my squad-mates, Camille, fell out of a hammock the other day and really injured her head and neck. She is in a lot of pain and is wearing a neck cast. I was brought to her room by one of her teammates to pray over her. As I prepared to pray I felt so unready. My faith is too small I thought; but I knew that this was the Lord’s will and I was at least being obedient. I prayed over her much the same prayer as in my dream. Nothing appeared to result and I left. But later that day I was told that her pain had gone done a lot that morning.
A few minutes later my teammate, Nick, came up to me and told me he is tired of feeling sick. I prayed over him. “Honestly, I feel much better.” came his response. Another squad-mate, Rachel, came up to me several minutes later. She told me how her calf has been hurting a lot because of all the steep uphill walking at her ministry location. I prayed once and nothing happened. I prayed again and her leg felt much better and her limp was gone. Another squad-mate, Malia, came up to me right after and told me about her knee pain. She has had it for years. She thinks that the Lord wants to heal her of it during this trip. She feels like she believes but she has still never experienced healing. I prayed once and nothing. I prayed again and she was able to walk with much less pain.
Another one of my teammates, B, came up to me and talked about how he’s been really distracted from ministry lately because of hunger. I prayed that he would be satisfied in you and that his physical hunger would remind him of his spiritual hunger for you and that he would draw closer because of it. Now a few days later B is leaning into the Lord and doing much better coping with his hunger; it’s still there but it is pushing him towards God and not away.
It was super awesome to have been obedient to the Lord this morning and for it to spark such good conversations and for healing to be done. The Lord definitely showed up and even though not every prayer sparked perfect healing my faith was grown and I know my obedience pleased the Lord. Every time someone came up to me I couldn’t help but smile because I feel so normal. These crazy calls from God and these crazy miracles only happen through men and women of extreme faith and authority, right? Wrong. I’m truly learning that God desires to use the meek and lowly and grow them into men of faith and endurance.
Even Moses was full of doubts and protests when God called him. “Who am I to do this?” “Who will I say appeared to me?” “What if the people don’t believe me?” “I’m not very good with words.” “Please send anyone else.” The Lord answered each of these concerns with understanding but did not change his mind; Moses was the man for the job. God knew Moses and saw him as a great leader and man of God before Moses had an ounce of faith in himself or in God.
This is so encouraging for me because I am full of doubts, protests, and wonder. I can hardly even comprehend what the Lord is beginning to reveal to me about who He says I am and what He has in store for me. I’m still unsure what I believe about many things when it comes to healing and God’s will; but I believe that God can work in me despite that. I don’t need to understand everything.
“’My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the LORD. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’”
I have so much peace in that. As I wrestle out what I believe I don’t need to worry. God’s will is being done in my life whether I can understand something or not; I just need to trust Him and obey Him. God knows me and what He has made me for. Who am I to doubt the Lord? Who better to put my trust in? Who better to follow to the ends of the earth? And it’s my greatest honor to have been called by name by God. But it is scary. The cost of discipleship is high. He calls us to leave friends and family, hopes and dreams, comfort and security, all for Him. But tell me, what better way to live this short and fleeting life? It’ll be so worth it.
Never discredit yourself from the work God is calling you to. What qualifies you is who qualified you. “Remember dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore as the Scriptures say, ‘If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.’” – 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:
Here are some pictures of our time so far.
