When I left for the World Race, despite AIM’s warning to drop all expectations, there were still a few that I held onto.
The largest being that I expected God to move.
I think that was a fair expectation to maintain. I was going to eleven different countries to be obedient to his calling of Matthew 28.
I had full confidence that he would show up.
Sunset from an abandoned house overlooking our city in Siria, Romania
But I attached specific hopes as to how he was going to move. I desired to see miracles… the kind of miracles that Jesus did while on earth. You know… healing the sick and casting out demons.
Each month, I have prayed for people who were sick or injured or feeling oppressed. I’ve declared in my prayers that I believe Jesus heals. That I believe he loves each of his children and desires them to be healed and whole and free. And I did so with a fervor and passion.
I’m on month nine in Rwanda, my last month in Africa. Africa, the continent I held the highest hopes for witnessing a physical healing or casting out demons.
And I have yet to see the miracles I had desperately hoped for.
Holding hands in Butere, Kenya
But the other day, I was reading Love Does by Bob Goff and I had a sort of revelation.
Because I have so desperately been waiting to see those types of miracles, I’ve failed to recognize the countless miracles that have occurred right before and around me.
In fact, the miracles I’ve witnessed are far greater than the ones I was hoping for.
The greatest miracle that Jesus performed wasn’t healing the sight of a blind man. It wasn’t making a lame man walk. It wasn’t even bringing a young girl back to life.
The greatest miracle was the Son of God coming to earth and dying a death of agony and humiliation, so that every one of us flawed and sinful people can be in relationship with our perfectly wonderful creator. It was the ultimate act of love and grace.
The greatest miracle didn’t just make this life better for one person… it saved the lives of the entire world for this life and the next.
Communion at a hospital clinic in Rukungiri, Uganda
And therefore, the greatest miracle that we can perform isn’t healing the sight of a blind man. It isn’t making a lame man walk. It isn’t even bringing a young girl back to life.
It is the miracle of bringing God’s kingdom- His grace and redemption and love- to earth. It is fulfilling the second greatest commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves, and the mandate that Jesus gave us to make disciples of all nations.
Outside of Spiritual Life church in Butere, Kenya (Photo credit: Emily Peterson)
And over the last nine months, I’ve been able to reveal bits and pieces of His kingdom to people from nine+ countries. And I’ve prayed with people as they made the greatest decision of their lives- to die to their fleshly desires and live a life of dedication and beauty and passion and love for Jesus Christ.
Like the vision given to Ezekiel, through the grace of God, I took dry bones and breathed life into them. And they received the miracle of a new life on earth, and an eternal life in Heaven.
How awesome is that?
