She is short and stout and full of tangible joy. The color of her skin is as deep as the wrinkles set in around her eyes. The moment I saw her, I knew she was special. Her name is Go Go Maria (Here in Swaziland, all elderly women are titled “Go Go” before their actual name). God sent my team to her little pink home, about a 25-minute walk down the path from our CarePoint. It was our first time doing a “home visit”, where we basically visit a local home and get to know them and pray over them and whatever else Jesus leads us to do in that time. We could have never expected what He had in store!
Attempt #1: We got to Go Go Maria’s house and we could tell right away that she was in poor health because of how slowly she moved. Her smile was beautiful and she greeted us with such warmth. However, about ten minutes into us being there she told us she had to lay down and take medicine. She said she was so excited to see us that her heart started beating too fast and she felt very faint. (How adorable is that?! Also very sad and concerning. But I just can’t help thinking, “AWH!”) Anyway… we were able to to give her the help she needed, slowly and gently walk her to her bed, pray over her and then leave, promising that we’d be back the next day.
Attempt #2: We were able to approach this next visit with the understanding that she has a lot of health problems. We arrived at her house and were again greeted wth such genuine excitement! Her heart was beating steadily and all was well. We worshipped, prayed and got to know her a little bit more. We learned that she has really poor eye sight, poor hearing, and the whole right side of her body is weak and in pain due to a stroke she recently had. She said the worst part was the pain she had in her right knee, making it very difficult to walk or move at all, as we had observed the day before. She had a walking stick and would basically just shuffle her feet to get from place to place. We asked if we could pray over her knee and she joyfully accepted. We laid hands on her knee and prayed for healing. Nothing seemed to happen so we worshipped and chatted some more, until my sweet sister, Liz, asked if we could pray over her knee again. As we prayed, Liz said she felt the swelling go down in Go Go Maria’s knee! She asked Go Go Maria if she would try to walk. Hesitantly, Go Go Maria stood up. She initially had her walking stick with her, but she took a step and then threw the stick down. She walked with complete ease to the opposite side of the room. She turned around looking confused. She said, “My knee… the pain is gone.” WHAT?! My whole team and I began looking at each other, laughing in amazement at the miracle we were witnessing. She began hitting her knee and stomping her feet, and she continued to say, “My pain is gone!” She even DANCED! She began proclaiming, “My God is power! My God is power!” She then asked us if we could pray over her son for his mental health, which was such a beautiful moment because she wanted to share the gift of healing that she had just received. After praying for him, Go Go Maria said, “Look, I can jump!” And she hopped three times over to the other side of the room again. “Praise God! Praise God!” Laughter and praise and joyful tears filled the room as we marveled at this heavenly moment. That is our God. He is POWER!
We have continued to visit Go Go Maria and she is moving like a brand new woman! The other day, when asked if she wanted help walking to her seat, she declared, “No! Not anymore! I have a new knee, remember?” How beautiful is that?!
May we never forget the mighty ways that our God moves. May we never stop praying big things. May we never stop rejoicing! He is so good all the time and does only good things. Thank you, Jesus, for your grace. I did not deserve to witness this moment, but I am so so grateful that you delighted in experiencing that with me. I pray over whoever is reading this, that he/she is encouraged as I was, and reminded of the power in your holy name. Praise you, Father! You are power!
-Anna
