Let me tell you about Ruthy!
It was a beautiful, sunny, and hot friday in Malawi. We started off the day playing and teaching kids at a local school. Probably one of the funniest, funnest days of ministry so far on the race. We were told to teach the kids for an hour, which is typical in Africa. None of us had anything planned so we did what you would do in this situation. Read bible stories from the Word and act them out improvley. It was so cool to see the way our team worked together. While Alyson read we would all just pop up and turn Into an instant character. God is good and definitely has a sense of humor.
Then in the afternoon we went out and did door to door evangelism. It didn’t take long until I realized our translator was taking us to people who only spoke English because she couldn’t translate English very well. At first I wondered why she would volunteer to translate if she couldn’t speak English very well but after I realized I had an awful attitude I prayed it off and started to become grateful. She was giving up her day to take us door to door so we could tell people about Jesus that is a serious blessing! Lets be real, if it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t of went to see Ruthy!
Ruthy was frail, tired and young. She was skin and bones and looked worn out. But there was something different about her. She had hope. She had hope in Jesus. She knew who her God was and she knew He was able to heal her.
She explained to Beth and I that her lungs would fill up with fluids and then her body would leak out the fluids. It was so hard to see her in pain. I knew God wanted to heal her. But Ruthy knew God Could heal her. FAITH.
I started to explain to her what God had been teaching me. I began to tell her how much I stand on the Word of God. How I don’t just believe that Jesus walked this earth healing the sick but actually DID do those things, and now we can walk this earth healing the sick through him. (John 14:12) Ruthy was fired up. She believed this too.
Beth, Ruthy, her mom and I all began to pray. We all agreed in total faith knowing our Jesus is good. Knowing He is our healer, provider and redeemer. Knowing that even if it wasn’t God’s will to heal her on earth that one day we have a promise that there will be no more pain, tears or hurt. (Rev. 21:4)
We left that day standing in total faith that Ruthy was healed. When I left her house a part of me began to doubt. I wondered why we didn’t see her healing take place then.
“God, I trust you and believe. Why wasn’t Ruth healed?”
A few minutes after that, I rebuked the lies of the enemy and stood in faith for Ruthys healing. I was gonna thank God either way because he is good.
Fast forward two days. We went to the same area we were when we prayed over Ruth. I was placed with the same translator and again, we started going to the same houses we had already been to. WHAT THE HECK. I was over it. My attitude was awful. As we were walking, Ruthy was placed on my heart, but I kept putting it off. We were almost out of time and I said, “We need to go see Ruth.” So I asked our translator if we could go see her. We ended up going! Of course I was placed with the same translator in the same area. Everything was starting to connect.
When we got there, she was sleeping but woke up for us.
Can I just say… The difference in her appearance was crazy. She looked SOOO good. I was so excited inside. Her mom started to explain how she was eating and eating and regaining her energy. She said she felt so much better. JESUS. He healed her.
Sometimes we don’t see results right away. Sometimes we walk away and don’t see the healing take place through our eyes. But it is so important to be thankful and trust God that the healing did take place and to thank him. Jesus healed Ruthy and He Gets all the Glory for that!
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12 NIV)
