25/01/2019
Rehabilitation Center. Such a good day! I think we walked about 45 minutes to arrive at this ministry. We arrived upon an enclosed area, gated by metal strips and wires. Nonetheless, it was a cute little area. While walking there, I asked our guide if anything was expected from us to do there and he told me, “no, you will just be talking with them”. After entering into the gated area, we waited around for about 20 minutes while our team leaders talked with the man in charge. Come to find out, we were expected to basically put on a service for them with 10 minutes to prepare. It went so well though! We had 3 teams there, so someone from each team shared a word, people led us in worship and we then opened the floor for a time of prayer. So many men went up to receive prayer- it was beautiful!
We then split up into small groups with four men from rehab and five of us. My group walked outside and the men pulled some benches together for us. The men were Robert, Jacob, Johnathon and unknown. Jacob and Robert did most of the talking. Jacob is 48 years old and has been married with children, but is now divorced. After his divorce, he was in rehab for 8 years, was released this past December and has returned this past month since he went back to drinking. He went to Bible College for 6 years and wants to be a speaker/pastor, so we encouraged him a lot in that. One of my squad-mates was able to encourage them with their own testimony of redemption and healing from drugs.
Robert was younger, I think in his 30’s. He has a wife and 2 kids, one of which was just born in December, so he’s never met her. He’s been in rehab for the past 7 months. I can’t imagine how his family is doing without their husband and father. I didn’t dare ask if he gets to have his family visit; I could just tell that the answer is no.
We were able to chat for a good amount of time about lots of different things: our lives, dreams, Scripture and faith. We prayed over them to end our chat and then ended our time there playing volleyball!
One of my teammates, Liz, was led to pray over a man who was unable to read the Bible due to poor eyesight and he was HEALED. For the rest of our time there, he was reading the Bible! His only complaint about his eyesight was that he was unable to read the Word.
Although I haven’t dealt with drugs or alcohol in my past, I was more than able to relate to these men in the way that they’ve struggled with the cycle of sin: entrapment, repentance, and redemption. I was reminded of the verses in Romans 7:18-19 where Paul says,
” For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing”.
Thank you God for continually giving me grace and forgiveness of my sins. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who strengthens me to not live by my fleshly desires (Galatians 5:16). Thank you for not allowing me to be tempted beyond my ability (1 Corinthians 10:13).
