Uganda gave me quite an experience. I got the privilege to endure suffering in the forms of sickness, spiritual warfare, and simply missing home. Suffering is something that is not fun and it is not easy to go through. God has an awesome way of bringing his children closer to him. I think it’s a lot like breaking a horse. The horse is stubborn at first and is afraid of getting close to the human because the horse does not know all of the good that the human has to offer. The horse sees the human as a potential threat, not a potential helper. We view God the same way. God is this unknown being that many people view as a potential threat and not a potential helper. The horse finds out, through suffering, that the human wants what is best for the horse and he has nothing but good in store for the horse. Suffering is something that no one enjoys yet God tells us to rejoice in suffering. When we endure suffering, we have two choices, we can be burned by the fire of suffering or we can choose to be refined by it! I chose to be refined by it and I am closer in my relationship with the Father now more than ever.
I was so blessed in Uganda because God allowed me to take part in one of His miracles. I have always believed in the power of God but I had not believed in God’s power through me. There was a man who was in desperate need of healing. This man had water in his heart and also had a tumor in his stomach. He was a muslim man who had tried since 2009 to raise money to get an operation to fix his heart and remove the tumor but he could not raise the money. The man had searched for every remedy that could be found but none would heal him. He reached his last resort, which for a muslim man meant turning to Jesus. This man was waiting for us at the church and when I saw him, I immediately knew that there was something deeply wrong with this man. He had the deepest, darkest cough that I have ever heard. It sounded as if the man was demon possessed from how evil and dark the man’s cough sounded. The man told our pastor that he was a muslim and he told his family that he was going to the Christian church to search for healing from their God. His family told him to leave and never come back because he had denounced his muslim faith. The man told Pastor Vianney that he wanted to put his faith in Jesus and right there he accepted the free salvation and grace of God. Right after he received Jesus, Pastor, Annaka, Derek, Amanda, and myself laid hands on him and began to pray for him to be healed in Jesus name. We were praying audibly over this man, we were speaking healing into his life. The man fell back in his chair into me and Annaka’s arms and he became stiff as a board and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He was convulsing violently but Annaka and I continued to hold the man to protect him from hurting himself. The dark cough and the convulsing continued and my prayers changed from prayers for healing to prayers to cast out demons in the name of Jesus. I prayed that anything that is not of the Kingdom of God would leave the man in the name of Jesus. The man finally stopped convulsing and he became conscious. He told the pastor that he felt better but he still felt the tumor in his stomach, so of course we began to pray. Again the man began to convulse but this time was less violent. I prayed for the tumor to be removed from him in Jesus name. The man regained consciousness and said that the tumor was gone. After experiencing all of this healing, he decided to ask us to pray for the hearing in his left ear to be restored and we prayed for healing there as well and he was healed. The man began to jump up and down and run back and forth across the church, it was amazing. The man said that he had a dream the night before that he was surrounded my muzungus (white people) and they were all praying for him. I have never experienced the power of God through me but I experienced it that day. It was almost like I could feel the power of God moving out of me and into the man. People ask me if I was scared in that moment and the answer is no, I wasn’t scared. All I knew in that moment was that I needed to pray for him. I prayed for healing, I prayed to cast out demons, I even prayed that if the man died in my arms that God would remember him because the man had just decided to put his faith in Jesus. That day I learned that God can and will use ordinary people to perform miracles in order to bring God glory.
I want t give out superlatives for each month so here are my superlatives for Uganda.
Barf of The Month: Annaka threw up into a Nalgene bottle while in a taxi, props to her for the best barf.
King of The Kitchen: Amanda made chapatti multiple times as well as helped often in the kitchen and since food is my favorite thing of this world, Amanda receives this prestigious award.
Shame of The Month: This award is given to myself for being on my hands and knees and my face only inches away from a squatty potty when I was sick. If you know this feeling then you know that it is more than a boat load of shame.
Overall Best: This award is given to the overall best thing in the month. This award can not be given to Jesus because he would win it every month. This month the over all best award goes to pineapple. Uganda had the absolute best pineapple that I have ever tasted.
Uganda was a rough month but I learned a lot from it. I am now in Kigali, Rwanda and it is absolutely beautiful here. I’m growing in the Lord and my faith is stronger than ever. I want to challenge all of my subscribers and readers to dig into the word of God, I believe that God wants to show you something. Here is a short video from month 1 in Uganda, hope you enjoy it!
