My team and I walked into a small hut where about 20 people sat inside on the concrete floor. There were 3 women lining the wall that could neither speak or hear as well as a small child who was deaf and mute sitting on her grandma’s lap. The grandma had problems with sore knees and high BP.
In the corner was a young girl who was paralyzed in her right leg and her right hand. A man sat on the floor, his legs weak and in braces. He wore a pair of flip flops on his hands so he could drag himself around in the dirt. Someone else had a limp because one leg was longer then the other. And yet another guy was marked by burns on one hand and had no ability to move his fingers. A handful of others in the group dealt with epilepsy, or knee and stomach issues. This was the prime setting for an abundance of miracles.
We greeted them and told them we wanted to share Jesus with them. My team mate Ethan shared how God wants a personal relationship with each one of them. He told them how they don’t need to feel alone when they are sad, discouraged and broken, and how Jesus loves them so much and wants to take their pain and suffering. Ethan asked if any of them wanted to accept Jesus as their savior. A handful of them raised their hands so we prayed with them as they surrendered their hearts to Him.
Ethan asked if anyone wanted to be healed. One by one they came up and we put our hands on them and poured out our hearts, begging for healing. They prayed with us and their faith was so evident as they asked God to restore them.
“Does your pain feel different?” We would ask each person after the prayer for healing. Always a smile and a nod but nothing physically evident. Social cues said a lot of them were just being nice. I kept thinking “God why aren’t you doing something awesome here?”
“Is it better now?” I asked a lady after praying over her sore knees. She responded with a grin and proceeded to kick her legs in the air to show off her knee movement. “They good! Better! Better!” The whole crowed cheered and clapped for her.
I whispered a thanks to the Lord but pushed back feelings of discouragement as I watched the little mute girl “Miracle” staring at me with wide eyes. Why didn’t He allow her to hear and speak? Why didn’t He give movement back to the cripples? And why didn’t He allow the man with weak legs to get up and walk? I kept thinking “God this whole village could be changed if you allowed just one big thing to happen! “
The bible clearly says that the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and the lame will walk. There is nothing to small for God to fix. I just needed to have faith, right? So what did I do wrong?
That day I didn’t think anything huge happened, the angels were rejoicing over the 5 new people that just gave their lives to Christ. A lady was praising God that she could lift her knees with out any pain. I was sad that I didn’t see a huge miracle.
I don’t understand all the “whys” but I’m thanking him for giving me and my team the opportunity to unite as one and allow all those people to see how big our faith in Him is. I thank Him for providing us a translator at the last minute.
I thank Him for giving those people open hearts to hear about Him.
I thank Him for giving us words of truth to speak into those wonderful souls.
Most of all I thank Him for always being faithful, for always being true, and for always being good.
In all honestly I was feeling like God let me down. I put myself out there! It’s not easy getting out of your comfort zone. I asked Him to heal and He barely came through.
At the end and of the day I went home and crawled in my tent. Once again I quietly said to Him “I had faith you’d heal so why not?” He put His hand on my shoulder and said “it’s not about you, it’s about Me”
This journey isn’t about me, you, or the poor kid on the street. It’s about showing Jesus’s love and letting the whole world know He is real and He is God.
