“Human impossibilities glorify God.”
“You don’t have enough faith, Jesus told them. I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain. Move from here to there, and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20
Today the team and I were told that we were going to go into one of the poorer communities to get to know the people. Sarah, Megan, Allie, and I met two 19 year old girls when we entered the community and we talked to them for about thirty minutes. I was somewhat discouraged because they didn’t act too interested in what we had to say (even though I offered to put feathers in their hair!). As we were walking down the street we came across our guys and they were talking to some men in the community so we prayed for them from a distance. I noticed a younger teenage guy watching everything and he seemed interested so we went over to talk to him. His name was Manuel and he was 17 years old. I could tell that his heart was hungry to know more but he told us he wasn’t interested and basically was acting “too cool for school.” We talked to him for a bit and I was becoming more and more frustrated because I couldn’t say what I wanted to say. The language barrier is so frustrating sometimes. Also, the Nicaraguan Pastor that we are working with started preaching to this boy and wouldn’t even give him a chance to talk, which frustrated me more. We ended up parting ways with the boy. I was beyond frustrated. The team went into Eddie’s house (one of the boys from the youth group at the church we are working with) but I was still so frustrated so I went outside to get some air. As I was sitting on the curb and talking to God my eyes started to well up from frustration but I knew that if God wanted me to have the words to speak then he would give them to me.
This day was not going good…until…
The Pastor told us about this woman who asked us to come pray for her daughter. Apparently her daughter had witch craft practiced on her for two years and she hadn’t really been eating much, talking, or walking since she was 17 years old and she was 29 years old now. Wow. I knew that we were preparing for some intense spiritual battle. A million thoughts were going through my head. I felt the spirit of fear come over me thinking about what we may be about to encounter but we prayed before we went and we cast that spirit out! Remember…
“The enemy runs at the sound of you voice. When you stand up, the nations flee!” Isaiah 33:3
We arrived at the house and it was actually right next door to the 19 year old girl’s house that we met at the beginning of the day. We walked in the house and there was a sudden heaviness, a heaviness that I had never felt before. I wasn’t scared though, I don’t think any of us were. We carry the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us. Angela was the girl’s name that we came to pray for. I have never in all my life seen or met someone so zombie like. She sat in the chair with her eyes to the ground. She had a hunch in her back from being bent over for so many years. When we spoke to her she didn’t speak back. Her mom told us her name and her age. She would not even lift her eyes to look at us when we spoke to her and to say that her body was a little more than a skeleton would be an understatement. I was heartbroken. I have never felt so burdened for another human being in all my life. God told me to go over to her and crouch down by her and hold her hand so I did. Her hand was limp in my hand. It felt like she was barely alive. Oh God, help us.
We started praying and declaring freedom over Angela. As I was praying I told God to have Angela squeeze my hand if he was speaking to her. My hand began to pulsate from the movement of her hand; it felt like there was a heartbeat in her hand. We began to pray more and more, louder and louder. I told God to have her squeeze my hand harder if the prayer was speaking to her. She began to squeeze my hand harder and harder. Before I knew it our hands were interlocked and we were both crying. They weren’t like any tears I have ever cried before. They were hot as they rolled down my cheeks and I knew God was answering my prayer: Break my heart for what breaks yours Lord. As we were praying for her I began to pray that peace would sweep through the house and a gust of wind blew over us. The Lord was showing his presence there in such a tangible way. Hardcore intercession was taking place at this point. One of the girls told her to just cry out the name of the Lord and for the first time we heard Angela’s voice.
“Stronger Angela, stronger!”
She began to cry out to the Lord with her own voice and tears continued to flow. Oh what an amazing site to see freedom! We continued to pray and to praise the Lord. Before I knew it Angela was looking at me in the eyes with a huge smile on her face! She told us that she had been waiting for this day for a long time. Praise the Lord! We continued to just pour into her and encourage her. We told her that she is beautiful and that she is a daughter of God. She is so beautiful. I could just see God placing a crown upon her head. I couldn’t stop crying. We asked her how she felt and she told us that she was free, that God freed her. There was such an instant change in her. She had a huge smile on her face and she was laughing. Joy radiated from her. Her mother brought out a picture of her from when she first became zombie like and it was a picture of her standing up in a white dress with her head bent down. Let’s just say it was the most eerie thing I have ever seen. Her mother burnt the picture because that’s not who she is anymore!!! Angela stood up from her chair and lifted her head high.
In that very moment I saw beauty and understood what true beauty was. She was the most beautiful sight in the entire world.
