I spent New Year’s Eve on site at our ministry contact’s home with Britni from my team and another lovely woman from another team. The three of us were sick so we stayed back from the NYE festivities the others were participating in at another missionary house nearby. It was a very low key night where we played cards, used the internet and chatted with one another. It was a wonderful blessing to actually get to bring in the New Year video skyping with Brad! We went to sleep under our mosquito nets sometime after 1:00 am and around 2:30 am I was suddenly sitting straight up completely suffocating. My lungs and chest were closed to the size of what felt like a pinhole, as a desperate attempt to get air my body was gagging repeatedly, it sounded and felt like I was throwing up but I wasn’t. Those noises were what woke Britni up beside me. She was very concerned asking me questions telling me she didn’t know what she should do. I couldn’t speak to answer any of her questions because I was too busy wheezing, gasping, choking and gagging for air. It was pitch dark in our room so Britni couldn’t see me, she could only hear me and it sounded like I was throwing up repeatedly. The only relief I was able to find was when I could sense that Britni had started praying for me. Eventually the spasm stopped and we were able to talk about what on earth just happened. We both were afraid and felt like it was more than just my sickness, but that it was a spiritual attack of some sort. Mozambique is a country that is covered in spiritual darkness. Witchcraft is very prominent in Mozambique and we could only imagine the amount of witchcraft that was being performed that night to usher in the New Year.
We tried to lay back down and fall asleep, but just moments later Britni sat straight up and said that we needed to pray immediately. With no questions asked I sat up and joined Britni in prayer. When we finished praying she explained that she felt a heavy demonic presence in the room and she didn’t know what else to do but pray. We got up and shared what we had been experiencing to our other squadmate who was nearby and had finally woken up from us. It was about that time that we could hear the drums being beat nearby and much chanting. It was clear that the witches and witch doctors were out all around us that night. We joined together in prayer against fear and against any spiritual warfare that was trying to come against us and against the house. It wasn’t until the sun was coming up after 5 am that I was finally able to fall back asleep.
I didn’t make it through a single night that was to follow without waking up to another awful spasm. They are very scary and very draining and it just became a routine that every time I would wake up to a spasm in the middle of the night, everyone around me that I woke up would start praying over me. That was the only thing that made it bearable – knowing that my sisters around me were covering me in prayer. I was also having spasms multiple times throughout the day as well. My team and squadmates did an amazing job of unceasingly praying for me and I am so grateful for that. Finally, one of our last nights in Mozambique, I was at my breaking point with the spasms and my team wasn’t going to stand for it any more either. So we spent some time before bed praying and worshipping God, asking Him for healing so that I could make it through the night without a spasm. Maggie remembered James 5:14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of our Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up…” Desperate for healing, my teammates rubbed oil over my chest and throat. Then Britni suggested that we should cover our room under the protection of Jesus’ blood. So we took red construction paper and cut pieces of it out and taped it over all the doors and windows in our room and also above each of our sleeping mats. And only by the power that is in the name of Jesus did I make it through that night without a spasm!
