Our 2nd day in Nakuru, Kenya we had an outdoor crusade in the streets neighboring the church. The children were many, all very dirty but all loving the “muzungus,” singing songs for us, dancing with us, playing with our hair and just holding our hands. In turn we sang for them, swang them around and just loved them. When we sat down for the message the children fought for a seat next to one of us. I ended up with 2 little girls close on each side of me. They listened well to the message holding tightly to my hands.
When the pastor stood up to end the message, he asked if anyone wanted to recieve Jesus then lead them in prayer. Next he asked if anyone needed prayer for healing. No one put their hand up or moved to the front. But somehow I caught a glance between the girl on my left and the girl on my right. The girl on my right shook her head and pulled her hand back. I turned to her and asked “are you hurt?” She nooded shyly. I asked to see. She showed me her thumb on her right hand. I gasped! This 9yr old girl had such an infected wound on her thumb by the nail and the swelling was so bad that she couldn’t even bend her thumb. She was in sever pain. I knew that if something wasn’t done the infection would make its way to her bone, which is not a good thing.
I was so determind for this young girl to be able to use her thumb again, but I knew it would take a miracle because medical treatment wasn’t really an option for a little girl living in the slums.After the service I got my team to surround her and we prayed for healing for her thumb. It wasn’t healed before I eyes.
The next day at the crusade, we saw Ester again, her thumb looked no better but it didn’t look worse, the pain was still bad. This time we had the pastor pray with us for healing over her thumb. Again we never saw Ester’s thumb healed before our eyes.
The next day was Sunday. When we walked out of church after the service was finished, there stood Ester. Her thumb was now draining pussy yellow fluid, she still couldn`t bend it and it was still very painful. My teammate Jeannie and I helped clean it up with the drinking water we had and drained what we could of the pussy stuff. I gave her the stack of band-aids in my purse, we instructed her to put on a new band-aid each morning. It was the best we could do with the supplies we had. Again we prayed for God to heal Esters thumb. Again we never saw healing happen before our eyes.
On Thursday that week, there was a miss understanding of where my team was suppossed to be and how we were getting there, so we were just hanging out at the church. Ester walked by as we were waiting. We called her over. She had a clean band-aid on her finger. When we removed it she had lost the nail on her thumb and she had a large open wound, but it was bright red, healthy flesh. The pain had severly decreased AND she could now bend her thumb! Praise Jesus! BUT she still had an open wound and was a high risk for infection. Again Jeannie and I cleaned it, this time not just with water but with the sterile eye drops I had in my purse. I again gave her my recently replenished stack of band-aids and instructed her that during the day when she was out working, she should have a band-aid covering the area then to clean it and leave it open at night. Then in the morning to put on a new band-aid. Again we prayed for her, again we never saw God heal her thumb right before our eyes.
Two weeks later we were at a wedding at the church and during the reception I felt a tug on my arm. I looked down and there stood Ester. I grabbed her right hand and gasped with joy at what I saw. I saw a completly healed wound with no sign of infection, no pain and she could bend her thumb. I ran her over to my team and exclaimed, “Look! God healed Esters thumb!“
Sometimes I believe that God wants us to be persistant with our prayers. Just because God didn’t heal Ester the first or second time we prayed for her, or just because he didn’t heal her instantly before our eyes doesn’t mean we should just give up. There was a reason we saw Ester so many times after our first encounter. There is a reason my team mate Jeannie and I have medical knowledge and there is a reason it wasn’t healed instantly before our eyes.
God doesn’t answer our prayers they way we want him to all the time. If he did I believe this world would be a mess and really what would be the point of having faith if everything we prayed for was given to us the way our human minds expected them to be. No, God is way, way, bigger than our expectations, and he knows whats best for us and therefore answers our prayers accordingly.
My God is so good!
