Ministry today was something I was looking forward to since starting the race. We didn’t really know all that was about to happen except we were going to pray over newborn babies and pass out coffee and cookies for the infants families. However this changed really fast.
When we arrived we found out that we were not going to be allowed entry into the hospital. Roger, our ministry host, lets us know there is a change of plans.
Five minutes before we were to begin, Roger says, “You each are going to be preaching a 5 to 10 minute message for the mothers and families of the sick children who are waiting for their children to get out of the hospital.”
This is the most uncomfortable that I have yet to be on the race. I don’t do well with on the spot pressure, let alone to preach.
So slightly freaking out, I prayed really fast about what the Lord wanted me to share.
The one thing I kept on hearing over and over was the word Healer.
“Lydia tell them I am a healer, and that if they have faith and believe in me I will provide for them all that they need. Tell them I can raise the dead”
“Hold on, wait Lord.”
“Healer I’m good with.”
“But tell them that their dying babies can be brought back to life by faith in you.”
“Hahaha, you have got to be kidding me”
“Like, Lord how in the world am I supposed to approach this.”
Guys, if this was up to me, or if I just didn’t listen to the voice of my Lord I would have told some feel good story that the Lord has a plan to heal your infants and that everything is in His plan.
But clearly the Lord had a largely different idea, because before I know it I have two others looking for the bible story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
It is happening……
Oddly enough, I am the last to speak so I have plenty of time to rethink this God-given thing to preach.
You know, the feel-good stuff: Hope, God’s plan, God takes out anxiety, fears, and when we are scared he is there to comfort you, everything that the people needed to hear was preached by all my teammates.
This whole time that I’m waiting to speak, my flesh is thinking to rework this into something happy, something pretty, and something encouraging. Not death.
It was my time. I stepped up with notes in hand about a dead guy named Lazarus who was brought back to life.
John 11:38-44
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Takeaway the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” Said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad order, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
After I preached I prayed over people like I never had before. Something came over me in a rush (aka the rush of the Lord speaking the words into me.) To this day the things I prayed are still a blur. The Lord however used me to be a voice to all of these people, to speak truth, love, comfort, peace, patience, clarity, understanding, strong faith, trust in the one and only Lord, and healing over the infants.
I remember Alexander and hope to never forget him. His mother came to me with Roger and had a picture of her very sick newborn who was in the hospital. Looking down at the photos of this young, innocent baby – hooked up to tubes, broke out in a red rash because of the antibiotics, and fighting off a lung infection – made my heart beat faster. I felt for Alexander’s mother and the need for hope and of healing.
I pray and still continue to pray over Alexander and his mother. I pray that Alexander will have good health, strong breath in his lungs, and will grow to be a strong healthy boy. I pray for peace, strong faith, and comfort in this time of unknown and just relying on the Lord to do whatever is in his plan.
We were able to minister to the women and families after preaching and praying through passing out coffee, cookies, diapers, and pamphlets of the gospel.
We learned that during our time of preaching, prayer, and ministry two of the women’s newborns died.
Gracie originally prayed over the mothers, and was able to go into the hospital to pray with these women. (She has a great blog about how the Lord has prepared her to mourn with others).
The rest of us were not able to stay. We had to go back to the car but we were able to intercede from the car.
In this moment I knew God had prepared me for this prayer.
I declared:
We know you are a healer
I ask you to place your hand on these infants and bring life back into them
Bring breath into their lungs
Bring warmth to their bodies
Open their eyes
Make them cry a scream of life
Have their hearts beat again
We pray that these mothers will not have to walk out of this hospital empty handed.
We know that you can do this.
We speak this in your name.
You can heal these infants and raise them from the dead
Holy Spirit we ask this of you.
We plead for your presence to come and provide.
I pray peace over these families that they know that you have them wrapped in so much love.
I pray that they know you are holding them close to you
I pray that their faith will not waver in this time of darkness.
That they will be able to mourn in the knowledge that you are still good.
I know that we cannot understand this situation.
I know that you understand what their heart is crying to you.
The Lord has been revealing to me that the same power that commends the dead to raise lives within us. No power of darkness prevails because we can speak against it. We know that the Lord has already won. He has already went ahead of us and fought the fight. We know that we will not be shaken and we will not be overcome because we stand here in victory.
As we learned through Journey Markers, this circumstance is a test, a seeming contradiction to what God promised in his teaching. Will I believe the word of God or will I look at the circumstance?
Jesus reminds us that difficulties will also plague our lives (John 16:33). And yet, God calls us to celebrate these occurrences. Why? Because they come filled with great purpose.
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it –1 Corinthians 10:13
Lord we know that you are good. So like Jesus we press on. In the face of not seeing the outcome we planned for, we hold close to our Savior and watch our doubt slowly turn into a deeper belief.
We know that everything is in your plan even when things do not go as we had originally planned them to go. It is hard to think we were just praying for healing and the infants died. The mothers suffered the heartbreak of losing a child. However we don’t know the end result. We don’t know if the interceding changed the situation from a death to life situation. We have hope, we have faith, and we know that you are completely in control throughout everything that happens.
