When Carly asked me on New Year’s Eve, what I want from God in 2012, I answered that I want an increased faith and a trust that knows no doubt. That doubt will no longer be a word in my vocabulary. It’s January 25 and he is showing me how to do just that… and not doubt.
Katlyn and I went to the hospital here in Mwanza on Wednesday, to pray healing for the sick. Moses, our translator and new friend, asked us for one verse that he could open with each time we had introductions.
James 5:15-16 – And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
We proceeded to then lay hands on and pray for the 8-12 patients in each room. The first few prayers were quick, and then the presence of God came on me and the rooms we were in. He was all over that hospital. There are no words to describe the feeling of the Holy Spirit's power interceding through me for these sick, hurting and lost people. I am in constant amazement at the words the Spirit crafts in my mouth and speaks over the individuals.
It's such a bittersweet experience for me to see the health care systems in these nations. I saw the Tanzanian version of the crash cart, the emergency trolly, and couldn't help but giggle, but also cringe a bit knowing this is all they have. Seeing these patients laying in their filth, their families' care was the only care we saw provided, and the dry and empty IV bags that hung by each bedside.
The last room we visited was filled with mothers and their newborn children. Most of the children had hydroencephalitis, the others were premature or malnourished, all with bandages of gauze and IV's poking out of different places. With 8 beds to the room, and 2-3 mother baby couples per bed, we began to pray and pray hard. That's all I could do. I couldn't help but ask God why they were born like this? Why did they have to start this journey like this, at such a disadvantage? I was overwhelmed with helplessness, after being filled with such power. Because all I could do was pray.
All I can do is pray.
James 5:16 claims that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. I have to trust the Lord that he is faithful to his word and that my prayers were powerful and effective, because I could do nothing else for those people in such need.
(on the bulletin board in the front of the hospital)
