have had a pretty crazy month. It has been full of many exciting new
relationships and hundreds of overwhelming encounters. Here are five
women that I can’t seem to get off of my mind…
The second night of worship in Beswick our
contact drove up to the street corner where church is held and pulled
out a wheel chair and in a few moments out came a small, frail young
woman with her eyes sunk in. Both of her legs (which were smaller than
my arms) were bandaged from ankle to knee. The reason she came to church
was that she heard that we were in town and wanted prayer. She told us
that she had only been sick for a few months and that her body was in
rapid decline. The doctors didn’t even know why. In fact, she wasn’t in a
wheel chair until the past couple months. In my mind it was “ok this is
it, we are going to pray and then God is going to hear us and heal her
and it will be a miracle for this whole community to see and believe.”
Almost immediately after we started praying I felt that God wanted to
heal her but that there was something keeping her from complete freedom.
I began to ask God for more wisdom and clarity and there it came. He
revealed to me that her sickness was rooted in some sort of witchcraft. I
was blown away by that kind of thought and backed myself out of the
idea, thinking that it was just because of my knowledge of the
aboriginal culture’s tendency to deal in that kind of stuff. Still
shocked by the intensity of such a vivid thought coming to my mind and
yet not wanting to miss out what God wanted to do, I decided to come at
it from a more “gentle” subject like forgiveness or bitterness and how
that could possibly open the door to “other stuff” that the enemy might
want to do. Two weeks later I found out that this woman had been cursed
by an aboriginal that practiced witchcraft. Obviously, I’m still growing
in my boldness, but sadly I missed out on what God wanted to do for
that woman. Now I am praying that God would deliver her and that in
spite of my timidity that he would use her story to bring glory to
himself.
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The
first night I met this woman I knew she was special. She looked just
like any other beautiful aboriginal woman, but the way she cared for the
small child in her arms was different. Most of the children in Beswick
ran free, unattended and uninhibited by rules or boundaries. This little
guy was sleeping in her arms by 10pm. Most other toddlers would be up
and running until 2 or 3am (literally). When we had church under the
stars, this mother would bring a pillow and a blanket for her small boy
to rest on once asleep. I began to learn more of her story over the next
few weeks.
She is a younger woman, probably in her late 20s, she works at the town
school as an aide in the preschool class. Her husband had fallen away
from the Lord early on in their relationship. She told me that her
husband would leave her and the kids behind for several weeks at a time
to go into the nearest town and drink. She never knew if he would come
back. And yet even though most Christians in this community are too
ashamed to go to church if their spouse is not in good standing with God
she remained faithful to church and in her walk with God. She cared for
her children and husband (when around) all the while waiting for him to
come back to Christ. After almost 9 years her husband came back to the
Lord and is now serving as one of the song leaders at church. This
woman’s faithfulness and dedication to her husband and to the Lord will
forever be branded in my heart.
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The next woman I can’t seem to get off of
my mind is a girl in her late teens. You can tell by the way she carries
herself that she doesn’t think much of herself, she has a plain vibe to
her and yet there is so much to her. Her father is a drunk and her
mother, who has been in the hospital since January will most likely
remain there until the baby is born in March. To my knowledge, Teisha is
the sole care giver to her four younger siblings. She has every reason
in the world to be bitter or angry at God and yet her heart toward the
Lord and others is noticeably tender. Teisha loves her Jesus and draws
her strength from Him daily. When I met Teisha I could visibly see her
love for God. Something I found out about this girl much later was that
Teisha writes in a different language (it looks like Arabic or
something). Anyway, after she writes in this other language, she
interprets it into English. This girl who can struggles with speaking
English writes in a Middle-Easternlike language and hands out written
prophecies to the believers in the community! God is using this girl to
nurture her younger brothers and sisters into young Christ followers and
to call out the younger generation in this community.
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The last girl you have to meet is little
Shantoya. She is one of the most beautiful little girls I have ever
seen. She is about 10 years old and her innocence is gone. She knows far
too much about the troubles of this world. I remember being so saddened
by the heaviness I saw in her eyes. When stepping into a room she could
light it up with her personality, but the light in her own eyes was
dark. I don’t know much about her story or really anything about her but
I know that the Holy Spirit pointed her out to me and Michelle (our
team leader) very specifically to pray that more of His Spirit would
rest upon her and protect her from the dark forces that want to destroy
her almost as much as the Heavenly Father wants to breathe His
everlasting life into her. Even writing this my heart is breaking for
the young children whose innocence has been stolen by the cares of this
world. God is the God of restoring what was lost. Please believe and
pray this truth over this beautiful girl. Pray that His life would fill
her and dispel the darkness that would try to stamp out God’s calling
over her.
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Although
I’ve left Australia, a piece of my heart is still there with each one
of these women. Daily they face the darkness and choose to press against
it. My prayer for them and for you is more deliverance, perseverance,
tenderness and life.
Catherine
