It is hard to believe that we are just at the end of week 2 of ministry in Bulgaria. It feels that like we have been here for months. This week has been a really challenging week. My team has really felt the heaviness of the oppression that is on this country. We worked with a new partner ministry this week in a village about an hour away from Varna. On our first day of ministry I instantly felt a heaviness when entering the village. I prayed that The Lord would give me things to pray for and show me what was going on.
Later that day The Lord brought a family to the church we were working at. They were seeking prayer. Prayer for their family but mostly for there little boy. He was 6 years old and couldn’t talk. They had a hard time caring for the boy because they couldn’t communicate with him well. We prayed for this family and eventually they invited us back to their home. Entering their home you could feel even more of the heaviness and oppression that was consuming their home. We continued to pray and share Jesus with this family. I knew in my spirit that a lot of what was going on in this home involved the father.
In the gypsy community women and children are considered less than. It is the job of the female and female children to produce babies, take care of the children, and take care of the home. It is the job of the man to work and bring money into the home. There is also a massive spirit of laziness over gypsy men. They have fallen prey to many generational curses that plague this community of people. Women are treating with very little respect. Can you imagine the humility it took to seek prayer from a all women group?
We were in this home for what seemed like hours. Praying and sharing Jesus. It seemed for a while nothing we were saying was sinking in. I began to pray harder for the father. I prayed that The Lord would soften his heart and that we would reveal the places in his heart that were hurting and that the Holy Spirit would come in and have his way. The father began to cry. Saying how he didn’t understand why he did bad things and nothing bad happened to him and his son who had never done bad things was born they way he was. (side note: one of the girl on my team was given a word of knowledge that the boy had autism). My heart broke in this moment. How often have I asked myself this same question. I told him I didn’t have the answers he wanted. I told him I didn’t know why sometimes bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. I told that in the scriptures Jesus promises us that in this world we will have trouble. The world hated Jesus and because Jesus lives in us the world will hate us as well, but we can have hope and be encouraged because Jesus overcame this world when he died on the cross and was raised three days later.
The father struggles with alcoholism. He drinks himself in numbness in hopes that maybe he will die because he is filled with hopelessness. He can’t provide for his family because of his drinking problem. If you look at wife you can see bruises on her. If you look at the other male children that live in that house you can feel the aggressiveness that seeps off them. You can see the ways that the enemy has bound up this family. I looked into the eyes of this broken and bound up man and while I could see the things that were binding him I also saw love. He loved this young boy so much. We later found out this boy wasn’t even his biological child. It would have been acceptable for him to disown this child because it wasn’t his but he took him in and loved him as he was his own. To this man this boy was his. An incredible sign of love.
I wish that I could say that there was a happy ending to this story. But for now his story is still being written. He is still bound up by the lies he believes about himself. There is still a huge stronghold over this house. I truly believe that when the father of this household really knows The Lord that everything will change for this family and that The Lord is going to use this little boy to bring this family to Him.
Please pray for this family. Pray that they would come to church and be encouraged by the community there and find hope. Pray that the Holy Spirit would strengthen the father minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day to say no to drinking himself numb. Pray that he will find work and be able to provide for his family. Pray for the mother. Pray that The Lord will speak to her about her true identify in him. Pray that she will find fellowship and encouragement in the women of the church. Pray for this little boy. That The Lord will for his life would be done. Wether that means healing from his autism or that means that he finds a way to communicate a thrive just the way he is. I believe that God will use this little boy to show how loving he is. Pray that The Lord would remove strongholds and break down wall is this entire community. There is a huge need to Jesus here. I personal real relationship with Jesus. Not just religion. Pray for The Lord to move in a huge way in this family and that he will get all the glory and there will be ripple effect throughout this community
