Morogoro is beautiful.
But I had a rough time. I was really drained- emotionally, physically and spiritually.
We were doing door to door everyday and preaching 4 times a week. The days were long and all I wanted was ice cream and a hot shower.
I started to forget what our purpose was in being there…until I got new eyes.
One day we were walking back to the road from the church and there were about a million village kids walking with and following us. The pastor walked up to us with a huge smile on his face and said, “the love of God is like a magnet. It draws people.”
And he’s right.
We encountered it over the weeks we were there.
We had barely begun to share the gospel with a Muslim woman when she interrupted us and told us she was ready to accept Christ. Her reasoning: she could see Jesus on us.
A woman had a dream about shining friendly lions coming from far away,
person after person entered into a relationship with Christ,
Grada was healed…
Ellen, Sarah, and myself visited the house of a woman named Mary who was Roman Catholic. We shared the gospel with her outside and asked if there was anything we could pray for. Mary asked if we could go inside the house with her to pray for her mom.
We went inside…Grada laid before me. A lifeless woman on the floor with rice stuck to her face and emptiness in her eyes. She had been paralyzed for 4 years. It just happened one day, all of a sudden, she started to lose function in her body and then became paralyzed from the waist down. Her daughter, Mary, told us she had taken her to the witchdoctor, a false prophet named Joshua, and used Muslim medicine on her- but nothing worked. Not only was she paralyzed but her speech was practically gone. She didn’t speak or make a sound.
I got out my Bible and read to them the story in Mark 2 where Jesus healed the paralytic man. We told Grada and Mary that Jesus died on the cross not only to save us but to heal us. And then we did the only thing we knew how to do, pray. We laid hands on her and prayed, we didn’t scream or yell, we just talked to the Father. And when we were finished…nothing happened. We left the house encouraging Mary to continue to have faith, to pray and trust God.
The following day we returned to the house to see how they were doing and guess who came walking around the corner? Grada. God healed her. She could WALK. At this point she tried to speak to us but it was only unintelligible mumbling.
Each day we went back, and each day her face got a little brighter. I wish I had pictures to show you the difference, it is incredible. By the end of our time in Morogoro Grada looked like a new person, a new creation. She was able to walk AND speak. Our last time seeing our friend she was able to murmur the words “praise God” and “God bless you”.
On our final visit she grabbed my hand and would not let it go- as I kissed her on the cheek and told her I loved her and that she was beautiful a tear rolled down her face.
I love that she was healed so that it could bring glory to God… I love that she was healed so that it could draw people to the cross.
I may not be able to dance with Grada while I’m on earth, but you better believe that we will be dancing together in heaven.
This month was hard but so rewarding. The harvest is so ripe here, people are literally just waiting to know Jesus, they’re waiting for someone to tell them. I think the enemy attacked the hardest because we were his worst nightmare…
“And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand. ‘Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
Your kingdom come, your will be done… here on earth as it is in heaven
