John 5:2-8 The Healing at the pool

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish Festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethsaida, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been paralyzed for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there he knew he had already been there a long time. He said to him, “do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up,  take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

 

I believe as a  Christian that God has His best interest for me. He wants to put me in situations that are good for me, or at least situations that will teach me something. The Father, I believe,  wants to take care of me, and as part of that He has a desire for me to grow and change. And as a missionary I took my first step onto the mission field believing that whatever was in store for me was going to be through God’s direction.

 

But when I got to Heidelberg , South Africa, and was assigned to a brand new safe house for discarded babies, I stopped to question what reason God had for assigning that specific ministry? I volunteered at the beginning along with my teammate Kara. I heard babies and jumped at the opportunity. But what I was faced with when I actually began my ministry was very different then what I had expected. When I say that it was a new operation, I mean that there had, at the time, yet to be one baby that was actually only placed there for a short time and then adopted out, which was the purpose of the house in the first place. A place for babies to come and go, whether or not they went back to their families or were placed somewhere else. What actually ended up happening, was that we got to the baby’s home, Ryan’s House, and we swept, and then we mopped, and then we were done. No playing with baby’s, no interaction with lots of little kiddos like I had expected. So I walked away the first few days not really sure whether we were going to benefit someone by being there.

 

The amazing thing about the God I serve is that He has an agenda that is so much more intricate and beautiful than I could ever imagine. This is truly an incredible story. Turns out, that the woman who runs Ryan’s house, really didn’t need all that much help. She continued over the two months to invite us over each day, and have us simply sweep and mop. We got into a routine of drinking coffee first, and then cleaning. The more time we spent there the more she started telling us about her life. The more she told us about her testimony. The more she told us about the Lord.

 

Never, have I met someone with so much confidence in God. I walked away every single day with my mind whirring because of something she said that stirred something in me or inspired me. She is a walking illustration of someone who has a heart after her father’s.

 

Ryan’s house mean’s little Royals. She heard the call to care for the children who need help, and she answered it. But she answered it with the faith that those who are given for her to take care of are not “discarded” or “dirty” or “less than.” They are noble. Heirs of the King of all kings. Worthy, and beautiful, and healed as God wills the second they enter Ryan’s House.

 

She told us every time we saw her what words and new knowledge the Lord gives her. She has no job, no one to take care of her, no direction in terms of what exactly her future holds. BUT SHE HAS FAITH. She KNOWS who her Father is, who her God is and how he feels about her. She looked me in the eye once and asked me what I wanted. Where I wanted to go when I get home. And she asked me not to go back to the person I was. Not because she knows who that was, but because she knows that God is always at work in us when we let him. She has a testimony of what kind of pathway He has set for His children. And she sat in front of me and told me not go back to the person that I was because I have the chance to be a new person who follows Jesus and not myself. She said that Jesus is standing in front of me, and the water is stirring and I don’t need to have fear. Money, people, support, knowledge, IT DOESN’T MATTER WHEN YOU KNOW GOD. Not because it’s not important for our physical bodies, but because when you recognize the call that Abba has placed on your life, and you actively strive to follow that call, provision is not something that will be a what if anymore.

 

This woman embodies what I want to be like when I am her age. She has had people hurt her, leave her, and treat her like she has not poured herself out to serve them. Yet like the daughter she is, she walks with grace. She walks with love, even towards those who it’s hard to be kind to. She lives with passion, not just for the Lord but for the small daily tasks and requirements that come along with living the life that God has called her to.

 

Towards the end of our time, she got a second baby, and because she has not had a need to hire workers, we got to babysit and help more. But what I gave her will never amount to what she gave me. I walked away from Ryan’s house almost 3 ½ months ago wondering how in the world I was going to be able to benefit anybody by showing up. But by the my last day I walked away with goosebumps and teary eyes knowing that ministry at Ryan’s house was not about me serving others, it was about the Lord serving me by putting her in my path.

 

I can only hope that I can be the example to someone else that she was to me. The word’s that she so confidently shared had more impact than she realizes. The clear truth of the life she lives, the time she takes to study, the open heart she has is inspirational. I have a very short list of the people in my life that have ever had great impact on me spiritually. How many people do we meet that actually make us want to change our posture and the way we walk, or speak, or live our lives. I don’t have very many names on my list, but I without a doubt have hers.