A baby lies in my arms, its breath shallow and rasping. Small lungs fighting for air barley seem to sustain the fragile life I hold. Standing in the middle of hundreds of people who just lost their homes to natural disaster is humbling and I am left speechless. I am still new to Africa, to Mozambique, and my heart is still tender to the pain and suffering of so many around me. I pray that it will always keep this tenderness.
Father! I need you! I can not heal this baby, only You. I am weak and imperfect; a sinner saved by Your grace, filled with Your presence and the Holy Spirit. Use me to heal your children – this child in my arms.
The mother stands close by watching solemnly as the life she once carried inside her fights for a single breath. She wanted us to pray for her baby, her son Elario, she wanted someone to hold him and say he would be alright.
Lord, Holy Spirit, You have to show up, You have to be here for this child to live. Breathe Your breath of life into his lungs that he may cry out to You!
There are charms around the neck and waist of the baby. She just wanted her baby to be healthy and her husband said to go to the witch doctor; he doesn’t know Jesus, he doesn’t know a witch doctor curses the son with spells. The mother breaks the charms with her teeth and throws them down in the dirt.
The father prays to accept Christ and they both pray over their son as we all join in agreement praying for healing. I look to the sky and see a falling star.
I am a star. Tears come to my eyes and my arms feel weak.
This is You.
This is You, Father. This is Your heart, these are Your people. Lord, heal them for Your glory, for Your name.
The baby is breathing a little easier, but it is still very weak. I hand the child back to its’ mother trying to communicate with my eyes what is in my heart, my Father’s heart. With a translator we tell the family to come up for more prayer before we leave the food outreach at the end of the night.
He is in Your hands Father, his life, his breath – it is all Yours.
I never see them again. There is a testimony back at camp later that night; others in our group prayed for a small baby with its’ mother and father. A little boy named Elario is healed! Praise God!
