The room is small and dark. Faint morning light floats in from the open door, silhouting a small crowd all gathered around a woman lying on the bed. The giggles of her small children sporadically lighten the dismal atmosphere, as she whispers in soft, strained spanish. Her name is Gloria, and she is dying.
The power of prayer is a very present theme throughout the Bible. Faithful prayer is a mighty weapon (James 5:13-18), and Paul spends the last part of a few of his letters asking or thanking for the prayers of those receiving the letters. Understanding that, I want to challenge you at home to supply Gloria and the others I will mention with a boundless outpouring of faithful, healing prayers.
Gloria is a 27 year old mother of three with terminal blood cancer. She has been given a year to live, but that amount of time is a high estimation due to the cancer’s spread to her bones. There is the possibility of a blood transfusion in four months, but those are expensive and extremely risky in Guatemala. Either way it is her husband’s decision and out of her control. Recently she was involved in a car accident in which she broke her nose, and had to recently return to the hospital to see about fixing the botched surgery they performed on it.
We visited her for the first time on our first full day of ministry a couple of weeks ago. Her story brought me to tears hearing about her situation her hopelessness, fear for her children, the pain throughout her body. We poured out prayer into that little room, and her pain fled. Since then we have come a couple more times, and she has regained the Lord’s joy and has spoken over herself that she will be healed before we leave Guatemala. She still has pain, but her faith in courage is truly inspiring.
Fernando is a man that lives not too far from our ministry site. He is the father of ten children and has forty grandchildren. His house is welcoming, lively, but he is bedridden with extremely advanced arthritis. Pockets of fluid surround his joints, completely hindering movement and giving him severe pain. His family has to do everything for him, and he shared his sadness he cannot be out working and providing for his family.
But he also shared his incredible faith in the Lord. He knows he has not been abandoned, that God is looking after him and caring for him. He is truly keeping his eyes on Jesus while the storm rages around him.
Our ministry partner’s uncle was overdosed at a hospital and is bedridden with kidney failure. A wonderful lady named Stefanie was hit with a stroke that affects half of her body. Witnessing God heal her legs and see her walking by herself was such a blessing! Recently she had another stroke that damaged her ability to communicate. There is a man with Parkinson’s. One of our children in our class named Marlo and his siblings suffer with an undiagnosed skin condition that causes itchiness and keeps them out of the sun.
I ask for all of your prayers for these wonderful people. Distance matters not in the Kingdom, and I know your prayers will have real effect and power. Thank you for coming alongside the people I minister to and their families in this way!
