On Sunday we had a much bigger turn out for the church service than the previous. Nearing the end of the 2 hour long service, Mark (the worship leader) asked Kaitlyn, without warning, to come up on stage and say a prayer. Little did he know, she had asked the Lord earlier for the opportunity to pray over the sick. She had felt especially inclined to pray over this young man with lame legs, sitting in a wheel chair in the front row. Little did she know, I had felt that same inclination.
After saying a beautiful and heart-felt prayer over everyone, she boldly seized the opportunity God clearly gave her, and asked for her sisters (accidentally calling us her brothers in spanish, which got a chuckle from the crowd) to come up to the front and for anyone with sickness or ailments to come up so we could pray over them.
Not knowing of each others yearning to pray for this young man in the wheelchair, Kaitlyn and I were both drawn to place our hands on the man and began praying bold things in the name of Jesus. We asked for strength in his legs, that in the name of Jesus, he be healed and stand up and walk. I envisioned him standing up and walking and being able to play with his son. We gave him big smiles and hugs and proceeded to move around the room, laying hands over people, praying for healing and for good things in Conocoto and all of Ecuador. (Conocoto is known for their alcoholism.)
After about 20 minutes of this, Mark started gently singing the song he had sang earlier, "Tu Estas Aqui," meaning "You are here." You could truly feel His presence in the church. I was standing there worshipping when God gave me a vision. And I very rarely get visions, though God promised me that He would bless me with them in my trusting Him. It's hard to describe, but it was this red light in the shape of a man, illuminated against blackness. But it was only the upper half of his body and I could see an armchair. And this image was more to the right. And I thought to myself, where are his legs? I asked the Lord for discernment to make sure the vision was from Him. And then it clicked that it was meant to be the man in the wheelchair, who in actuality was sitting to the right of me.
I didn't know what it meant, but I just got this urgent feeling that the Lord wanted me to go over to the man in the wheelchair again, but this time instead of just praying, he wanted me to ask him to stand up and walk. And quite honestly I got really scared, but I wanted to be obedient to the Lord. So I prayed for courage to go over to him, and for faith that he could indeed stand and walk.
I opened my eyes and to my left was Kaitlyn. I told her the vision I had and that I was too scared to go over there. She then revealed she'd wanted to ask him to try and stand up and walk too, but she didn't know how to say it. So we went over together.
I said in spanish "I believe you can walk. Do you?" He said yes. We said another prayer and then we asked him if he would try and walk. He said yes.
We helped him up on both sides.
He did not stand, nor walk.
I said to him "Don't stop believing, because God can do the impossible." He nodded in agreement.
Even though the young man was not cured in that moment, I truly do believe that he will walk. I imagine word spreading throughout the city, of the man who the Lord had mercy on, who had lame legs but now can walk. I believe that God will perform this miracle, to glorify Himself, and to make himself known throughout Conocoto and all of Ecuador, that He is real and alive and a healer. Whether I get to pray over him again next Sunday, and he stand up and walk then, or perhaps after I leave Ecuador, I envision him with the biggest smile on his face, picking up his son and twirling him around in the air.
