The one thing that I’m most passionate about is seeing people come to know the Lord. My heart beats for that. That’s when I’m most emotional and full of the spirit. When I started the race, I asked God what His promises were for me for the year. He led me to this verse in Acts 26:19, “To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me”. So that became my life verse for the year. I’ve clung to this verse. When things got tough and I questioned my purpose in this journey, I would go back to this verse, and remember God’s promise – that He was sending me out to share His gospel, and that through this; I would see someone come to know Him.
But, I often found myself asking God how this would manifest itself in my race. Language barriers make clearly communicating the gospel difficult. Which becomes even more difficult when our ministry for any given month is not relational. But I’ve believed that when God speaks to us, and reveals promises to us, that He will fulfill that. His word says so in 2 Corinthians 1:20, when Paul writes to the Corinthian church about his change in travel plans. Their church was experiencing much destruction. He reminds the Corinthians of God’s faithfulness, that there is no duplicity in God. That His promises would be fulfilled no matter what was occurring in the church. Paul writes, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory.” Through Jesus Christ, all of God’s promises have been fulfilled. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s faithfulness.
While we were in Guatemala, I wrote the blog, “A vision of hope”. In this blog I explained the burden on my heart to see God’s promise fulfilled. Through a simple vision of roots, barbed wire, and a single stranded light bulb, God reminded me of His faithfulness and that He had forgotten His promise.
Well, this past Thursday, God’s promise was fulfilled. Thursday we went to an old folks home in the morning to put on a program for them and simply love them. It reminded me a lot of home. In my final years of high school and into college (when I was home), my Daddy and I would go to the local nursing home and put on a “church like” program for them. So being at this home in Panama was a sweet time for me. The joy of the Lord welled up in my soul that morning and definitely set the tone for a very “spirit-filled” day for me.
In the afternoon we went to a young men’s prison. When we arrived, we were directed to a room that resembled a cafeteria. We set up our equipment and waited for the boys to come in. As lines of tan and blue shirts filled the room, my eyes were directed to one boy. We started the program with singing, “Where is the Love?” by Black Eyed Peas, to set the atmosphere as fun and inviting. And then we played, “Musical Food”, which consisted of bags filled with a variety of random food from onions to eggplant to snickers. The object of the game was while the music was playing, you passed the bags. When the music stopped, you had to take a bite of whatever was in the bag. The boy that had caught by attention was the biggest sport through both of these. He clapped and cheered as we made fools of ourselves and got the onion on the first round, and took a huge bite out of it. What a champ! His energy was contagious, and something just felt “different” about him, so I started praying for him and asking the Lord to move in his heart through our program.
One of my squad mates stood up and shared the gospel. She spoke to them about guilt and forgiveness. About when we ask for forgiveness, God not only forgives us, but He forgets our sin – as if it never happened. So she gave all the boys a blank slip of paper and asked them if there was something that they were holding on to, something they thought was “too awful” to be forgiven for, to write it on that paper. Minutes passed as the boys thought and wrote. After a little bit, our contact presented a call for salvation. And immediately, that boy that I mentioned that had drew my attention to him, the one that I had started praying for soon after we got there, stood up and came forward. Thursday his life was forever changed.
21 other boys received Christ that day. As well as 3 guards.
Luis is on the right.
I was ESTATIC at this point.
Their sins that they wanted to be forgiven and forgotten. They ripped them up.
After our program was over, I went up to him and asked him what his name was and how old he was. He said his name was Luis and he was 21. I told him that God put him on my heart as soon as we entered the room – that I not only had been praying for him in that short hour, but I had been praying for him for a year. I told him the decision that he made that day, to accept Christ into his heart, was the biggest decision he’ll ever make in his life. I told him that his life was important and that God loved him.
We chatted for a bit and he told me that he was incarcerated on two accounts the first was assault, and the second, I couldn’t understand. Then, he told me that he’d be “free” in two Sundays. My heart broke for him, but my spirit rejoiced in his salvation and life change that day. And I knew that his life was now entrusted to Christ and He would protect and guide him.
Before I left, we snapped this photo together, and as I walked away, he grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and said “por favor, oren por mí”. Which means, “Please, pray for me”. I said I would and left smiling. So blessed by God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His promise.
The testament I’ve been reflecting on these past few days is that God really IS faithful. The problem is as sinners, we operate on a “me timetable”. We want things to happen when we want them to happen. God, however, doesn’t work like that. If anything this year, I’ve learned to pray without ceasing until God responds. A great analogy I heard in a sermon recently related prayer to a faucet. When we initially turn on the tap, the water isn’t blazing hot, it takes a bit for it to warm up. It’s the same way with prayer. God may not answer us immediately, but in time He will. We have to trust Him and believe in His faithfulness.
What a blessed year this has been. What an awesome and faithful God we serve. I pray His power is manifesting in your lives this very day. May you experience the greatness of our Lord and see His promises fulfilled in your lives. Keep the faith. Keep praying for sweet, Luis’ life as he returns back to this sinful world.
