“For we walk by faith, not by sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7
Our last day of ministry in Nepal required putting full faith in Jesus. I’ve put my faith in Jesus countless times before, no problem. So putting my faith in him to provide for one day shouldn’t be a problem, right? Wrong.
Somehow I could put my faith in him that he could provide the $17,361 needed to go on the Race, yet I couldn’t put all my faith in him to provide a place to lay my head for just one night.
We packed our bags with our tents and sleeping bags and started our trek up the mountains, in search of our “Man of Peace” who would open up a place for us to stay. The sun was blazing down on us as it was the middle of the day, my daypack seemed to be getting heavier and heavier, and with every step I took uphill, I felt like my legs were going to crumble underneath the rest of my body. Over 5 miles later, I was taking a break on the side of the road and just overlooking the countryside and just thanking the Lord that even though I didn’t want to continue on anymore, I still got to see his beauty through it all. It was then that I saw a pickup truck full of my squad mates coming up the mountain. The driver had graciously allowed us to ride in his truck bed until we wanted to get off. Over the next 45 minutes, we were able to worship while watching the sunset over the Himalayas. Out of all the bus/taxi rides we have taken on the race, this one has been by far my favorite one so far.
The truck driver stopped and dropped us off at the top of the mountain, just outside a small town. From where we were standing, we could see a small, flat hill in the distance. My teammate, Jenna, immediately said, “How cool would it be if we could pitch our tents there for the night?!” We started walking again to find our man. Alongside the road was an old Nepali man standing there, calling us to go see the view from the top of his property, which just so happened to be the hill we just pointed out. We climbed to the top and just stood there, in awe of God’s beauty before us. As we were standing there, the old man slowly made his way up to join us. He said that he would love for us to stay there on his property. We were so grateful for this man, but our time with him didn’t stop there.
We noticed that he had to walk using a cane due to a limp in his right leg. His right arm was also bent at a 90-degree angle and his hand was constantly balled into a fist. We wanted to know about him and his life. He told us that he was not sure what his name was anymore but that he did have paralysis.
“Pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
We began to pray over this man and his arm and hand. After we prayed three different times and nothing happened, I would have been “okay God, now is not the time or place that you want to do your work on this man physically.” We could have stopped then and kept going about our day and starting to set up camp but instead, we gave it all up to the Lord. We spent the next hour praying over this man, for full recovery of his body physically and of his speech. We worshipped Jesus on top of the mountain while the sunset in the background. We had the man cry out, saying Jesus’ name over and over, proclaiming that he is Lord.
Throughout the hour, the man’s fingers began to unfold. His arms slowing began to reach towards to heavens. His legs began to bend and jump. Every part of his body was slowing becoming a working part.
While this sweet, old man was not completely healed physically; the Lord did work inside of this man’s heart. He experienced the unconditional love of Jesus. He experienced genuine smiles that he’s never seen before. He experienced 10 foreigners care and love on him when most others didn’t even bother to look at him when they passed by. He experienced the power of saying Jesus’ name with authority.
When we were done praying and he showed us everything he could do now, he walked us down to the bottom of his hill to meet his family. He had a smile from ear to ear and he showed them what had just happened.
Not only did the Lord provide us with a place to stay for the night, which was absolutely breathtaking, he also provided us with an experience and relationship I will never forget.
My prayer for this man, and I hope that it is yours too, is that his heart continues to open to a relationship with our healer; that the Lord continues to heal this man in his timing: that our time with him would be a turning point in his life; and that when he tells people about how much he is able to move, he tells them about how he shouted Jesus’ name, proclaiming that he is the one true God.
