Maria is 88 years old, full of the joy of the Lord and full of faith that He would heal her. But there was one problem, she didn’t actually know Jesus. She doesn’t know what he has done for her and the love He has for people like her.
We met Maria one day as we walked though her neighborhood. She had met a couple of us a few days before and upon seeing us coming down the road, you could tell she was happy to see us “gringas” again. As we talked, we invited her to come to church that night, the church is just a few blocks away, but Maria explained that her knees hurt her too bad to make it that far. Immediately, Andy told her that it was fine because Jesus could fix her. And we prayed for healing. We said Amen and asked Maria how she felt. She told us the pain was gone, the knocking in her knees had stopped!! She stood up, still using her cane and did a circle around her patio, pain free! We then told her to put her cane down because she no longer needed it. And as she did she raised her hands and danced for the healing God had just given her!! Hallelujah!!
We came back the next day, hoping to see her up and moving still, but to our disappointment she back in her chair, cane at her side. Again, we prayed and again she was healed. Pain free! Again we danced for joy and told her that the Lord had healed her because he loved her!
A few had days passed and we had been playing tag with Maria. Her daughter would come by to ask for us to visit and while we were out and then we would go by and she would be out… Finally, on Saturday we went out walking again and decided to go see her again. As we walked down the rode to her house we saw her, again in her chair, cane at her side. She was excited to see us, but seemed tired. Today her knees hurt, her wrists hurt, her eyes hurt. She is growing weary. We talked for a minute and then decided to pray again for healing. We’ve seen it happen twice now, but why is she not able to receive it fully??
As we prayed into that, the Lord spoke very clearly to me and said “She doesn’t know me. She’s not saved. Tell her about me”
The moment we finished praying, our roommate and translator for this month, Crystal immediately asked Maria if she knew Jesus personally. And without hesitation, Maria answered with a simple “No”.
“Do you want to know Him?” Asked Crystal. “Yes”, replied Maria.
Then and there we shared the Gospel with her and she said the Sinners Prayer to receive Jesus into her heart! And to be honest, we’re not completely sure how sincere she was or if she was just looking for healing, but that’s okay because God can use that!! This women has already had enough faith to believe that this Jesus would heal her and she now knows His story and His love for her!
A few days before this, God had been putting on my heart to make sure that as we went around sharing His love, we were also sharing His story. People don’t get saved by our love, they are saved by His love and how can they accept that love if they don’t know the story??
This was a perfect example of a women who saw our love and accepted it, but she couldn’t fully receive the blessing the Lord had for her because she didn’t know His love for herself.
I believe that Maria will go to heaven. I believe that, even if Maria’s salvation was the only thing that came out of our time in Peru, that it is worth it to the Lord. I believe that that is what true discipleship should look like. Taking it one person or one family at a time. When we take the time to share the Gospel and someone is saved, even if it’s just one person, we are allowing God to use us to change the course of eternity!! Praise the Lord for this opportunity because I believe that that our time with Maria has made an impact on eternity!!
