Today was the first day our team experienced what The World Race is all about, which is learning to live on mission. We had about an hour or so of free time at our ministry so we decided to go to the park and ask the Lord what doors he wants to open up. Earlier in the morning I prayed about what God wants from us today. I got an image of a woman and a small child sitting at a blue playground. We thought we would start there and began walking through the park to the blue jungle gym. Once we got there we saw an old airplane right next to the playground. Some of my teammates had visited this part of the park before and showed me a picture of it, but I had no idea this is right where it was. I didn’t tell them this part because I didn’t think it had any significance but in the image God gave me I saw the mother and her child, the blue playground, and the airplane all in the same area. All the things God had given me in my image were in the exact same place. INSANE.
As Rachel and I approached this woman and her child I was praying about what she needed prayer for. I got an image of hands that were hurting possibly with arthritis. So we just went with that. We asked her what she needs prayer for and we thought maybe possibly with her hands. She said nothing was wrong with her hands but she was very receptive of getting prayer so that was cool. After we were done praying we went back to the rest of our team and they were talking with this man named Vincio who sells ice cream primarily in the park. They said that his left eye had no vision so they asked him if they could pray for healing and he said yes. Nothing happened at that moment, but God most certainly wasn’t done with him.
While they were praying for Vincio, two other teammates and I were sitting off to the side and praying. Lindsey kept getting the color blue on repeat in her prayers and I got an image of a man with a blue hat and blue shirt. After moments of praying, this man named Cesar walks right past us with a blue hat and blue shirt. Boom. God is oh so good. As he was walking past us we saw that he was limping. So, Rachel, Lindsey, and I went up to him and sparked a conversation. We told him that we noticed he was limping and asked if we could pray for his leg. After we were done praying we asked him to walk and his leg was 10x better. He was still limping a little bit, but after asking how it felt he had tears in his eyes saying it felt much better. After praying with him we met up with our team. Kacie was saying that she felt like God wasn’t finished with Vincio and his eye and that he is going to be healed. Therefore, we went back to Vincio and asked him if this time we could all pray for him. He said yes and after praying he said he could see half in his left eye. Now remember he had no vision in his left eye before this. Jesus was showing up in that moment and showing this man of unbelief how much he loves him and desires a relationship with him. We asked if we could pray one more time and he said no. God most definitely stirred something up in this man’s heart that he’s never felt before, and we believe that by tomorrow morning in the name of Jesus this man will wake up with full vision in his eye.
After a long day of ministry we got on the bus to go home. As we were on the bus this woman in front of me begins to rub her hand and move it around as if it’s in pain. Rewind back to the beginning of this whole story. Remember when I said I heard God saying someone’s hands were hurting with arthritis and they need to be healed…well he revealed his promise to us all. Hannahmarie sparked a conversation with the woman and told her about how I heard the Lord say someone was needing healing in their hands. We told her that we noticed she has pain in her hand and asked if we could pray for healing. She said yes and Jesus began his healing. After praying just once she had this face of disbelief at what just happened. She told us that it felt much better. I asked her if she had anymore pain and she pointed to the top of her hand and said a little bit was there. She was hesitant to have more prayer because her stop was coming up soon, but I heard God saying she isn’t leaving the bus without being healed. We prayed a second time and her face was absolutely shocked. She had no more pain in her hand. We then shared that it wasn’t us who healed her but it’s in the name of Jesus who does, and that he desires this relationship with her because she’s his daughter and he loves her so much.
God always seems to surprise us. Just when we think we’ve got him figured out he shows up in ways we don’t expect. Jesus uses us if we are willing and he opens those doors if we ask. It’s all out of obedience and stepping into faith and boldness is where we begin to see the work of the Lord.
