Rise up and walk!

As you may or may not already know, this last weekend my team stayed in the bush of Zambia in a village called Zimba. Here, they have no running water, no electricity, no toilets, nothing that I’m used to. During their day they do laundry, cook food, grow crops, walk around the dirt roads, and essentially entertain themselves. We headed to this village to share Gods love and his truth with these people, and it was an experience never to forget.

We saw a lot of amazing things, people coming to Christ, demons being cast out, but the coolest thing I was able to experience was physical healing over an 80 year old man named Benjamin. When we first got to his little hut, he was laying inside on a mat in the fetal position. It looked as though he was dead. I remember walking by and thinking to myself, ‘he needs to walk.’ Benjamin eventually scooted himself on his bottom over to the group of us outside his stoop. He looked so weak and so lethargic- there was no joy in his face what so ever.

As I sat there watching him, God spoke loudly to me. He told me to pray for him, for spiritual healing and physical healing. Ben had a cough, pain in his shoulder and hip, and hadn’t been able to walk for a while. I secretly knew we were about to witness something crazy- something only God could do. We all gathered around him to lay hands on him and pray. As I laid my right hand on his arm my hand immediately went tingly and turned so hot. I remembered praying that he would have joy before anything and I looked up at my tingly hand and then at his face where a huge smile appeared. As I continued to pray for strength in his body and legs, the heat got more intense and I’ve never experienced anything like that before. I was like (oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!) and once we finished praying Benjamin told us his pain was gone. Right then God told me to pick him up, because he was going to walk right in front of us. So I was like, ‘alright?..’ and my team and I helped him up and prayed for him again as he walked four steps. FOUR WHOLE STEPS! Praise God, praise God!

This was it- we witnessed a miracle. Only God could make this man walk, and he did it right in front of our eyes. He blessed us. It was such an overwhelming experience that I will never forget. Ben had so much joy and love by the end of the conversation. He truly saw Jesus. I was so amazed by what the Father did for his son, and thankful that we were able to experience it with him.
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But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. (?Acts? ?3?:?6-8?)