So if you recall in a previous blog that I wrote all the way back in Ecuador (which seems like forever ago), I had talked about having the gift of healing prophesied over me and how through my hands God would work miraculous healings. I was so excited to have this spoken over me, as this was something that I was praying about throughout my month in Ecuador. Since then I’ve been anticipating moments when this gift will manifest itself. And after several months of not really seeing anything, I was beginning to get discouraged and question whether I would really see healings during my time on the Race. But during my time in Draganesti I caught my first glimpse of it (well, technically someone else caught it…but more on that later).
One of the ministries that I helped out in during my time in Romania was doing house visits. House visits might be one of my favorite ministries that I’ve done on the Race so far as I love hearing peoples’ stories and getting to know what their lives are like and what their struggles are and what they could use prayer for. So when I was told I was going to be doing house visits with Alecs, I was really excited and looking forward to what the day was going to hold.
The plan for the day was to meet up with two families, one who are members at the church and just needed encouragement and the other who was a man who fell away from the church and is still searching for God. I was teamed up with a girl from a different team who was staying with us, Chelsea, and we set off with Alecs (a ministry contact) to go and meet the people. We just wanted to get to know these people and hear their stories and give them words of encouragement, speak some verses over them, and pray for them. Both of the conversations were really cool and encouraging, but I want to highlight the first one specifically as some extraordinary things happened.
The first family we visited was a middle-aged couple with a single daughter who I actually knew from various kid’s programs that I helped out with in previous days. They lived in an apartment near the church and it was a quaint little place with a kitchen, a living space, and a bedroom. They welcomed us warmly and gave us a plate full of deserts which weren’t the greatest as they had coconut on them, but I ended up eating 8 of them since they kept shoving them in my face and I felt it would have been impolite to not accept them. Fortunately I had some tea to wash it down with.
During the hour or so that we stayed there, Alecs would converse with the couple in Romanian and then translate the conversation at various points to catch us up to speed. Then we would be able to chime in and ask some questions or offer some comments or encouragement to them. Hearing their story was heart-breaking and really stirred up a lot of compassion in me for them. Even before conversation started I got the impression that life for them was hard as the apartment was small and both of them were at home during the middle of a weekday, which I took as a sign of unemployment. And hearing their story confirmed a lot of those impressions.
The man didn’t talk too much, but the wife explained a lot of the hardships that the family faced especially with health issues. Both her and her husband had various health problems that prevented them from being active and being able to have a job and provide for their family. I can’t remember all that was wrong with her, but she had heart problems, lung problems that affected her breathing, and a brain tumor that couldn’t really be treated since they couldn’t afford surgery or anything. As a result she had to take several pills each day…and she was maybe in her late 40’s or early 50’s. The doctor told her that she should just stay at home all day and not be too active because of the weakness of her body. But because of their financial issues and the child that they need to provide for, sitting around and doing nothing isn’t really an option for her so she often pushes through.
The man also had his fair share of problems as he had a blood clot several years ago that left his left arm completely paralyzed. As a result, he didn’t have a job and had no hopes of being able to find one. Because of his handicap the wife, despite her share of problems, needs to push her limits in order to provide for them and their 12-year-old daughter. The government gives them some money because of the uniqueness of their situation, but it is minimal. It was hard to listen to because every part of me wanted to help them out, but I knew there was nothing much I could do…all I could really offer was prayer for them.
And so that’s what we did. Chelsea laid hands on the woman and I laid hands on the man and we just prayed for them and lifted them up to the Lord. Going into the prayer, I knew that this could be an opportunity for the Lord to show up and heal these people and fulfill some of the prophecy that was spoken over me. And because of that I was excited to see what would happen despite struggling with disappointments in the past of it not happening. But I just turned to the Lord again and asked Him to give me and the man the faith to believe that God can work miracles and that He desires to heal us and I acknowledged the authority and the Spirit of power that Christ has given me and that I am a vessel for God to work His wonders here on this Earth. And so I prayed hoping that God would show up in whatever way He chose.
Nothing really seemed to happen during our time of prayer and I left the house feeling somewhat discouraged because I really want to see God work some miracles, but I also want to trust that even if He doesn’t show up in the way I want, that that doesn’t mean He wasn’t present; It’s just that He has a better plan in mind than the one I had. And that’s something that I’m growing in trusting and accepting. But later that night when I was talking with Chelsea about the day, she told me that while I was praying for the man and praying specifically for his arm, that when I asked that the Lord would bring feeling back to his fingers, at that moment his fingers twitched for the first time during our visit and God knows how long. Unfortunately my eyes were closed as I was praying (as all good Christians should do, Chelsea…hahaha) so I didn’t see it, but it was really encouraging to hear that. Even though it maybe wasn’t the complete healing that I was hoping for and praying for, it was an extremely encouraging sign to me (and hopefully to the man) that God does hear our prayers and that He is all-powerful and that He wants to act for the good of His children. It also showed me that God hadn’t forgotten what was prophesied over me in Ecuador and that He still intended to use me to perform His miracles.
So yeah, house visits once again took the cake for ministry this month. God just really shows up in cool ways it seems during them and I hope to be a part of them more during the rest of my time on the Race. I continue to pray for God to use me to bring His Kingdom in whatever way seems fit for Him and I pray for faith to trust that what was prophesied over me will come into fulfillment and that it may look different than the way I want or imagine, but God knows infinitely more than I do and I need to accept whatever He does and in whatever timing He does it in throughout my life. And I pray that I will be looking in anticipation during the opportunities that God can really show up in and use me…because I don’t want to miss out again!
