God has such incredible ways of working in the unseen, and one of my favorites is those gentle promptings He gives us regarding other people in our lives.
When visiting a Burmese Refugee camp one afternoon in Nepal, God orchestrated one of those crazy cool divine appointments.
After getting off of the public bus, half of our group started to head over to the bathrooms as the rest of us milled around talking to the locals selling produce or joining in with the children playing games. A woman caught my eye sitting at one of the produce booths, I was trying to figure out if she was a co-owner of the produce stand or family to the women selling things- I honestly don’t know why I started thinking so much into her story or affiliation with what she was doing, but I found myself standing there smiling at her as she smiled back, and felt prompted to head over and sit down with her.
She was sitting there with a young girl in torn & ratty clothes with dirt on her face, who I assumed to be her daughter. Once I sat down she immediately started making gestures with her hands and motioning at different things, and I quickly discovered she was deaf. Analyzing the situation, I automatically assumed she was trying to ask for food for herself and daughter- almost just as quickly finding out it was something much deeper she was trying to articulate through her gestures. Almost 2 minutes into this exchange of charades, she started sobbing; I was absolutely lost and confused as to what was going on, or what I should do! I scooted closer to her and started rubbing her back, frantically looking around to see if any of my teammates who had stayed back from the bathrooms had seen the bizarre exchange that had just happened. I made eye contact with Luke who wasn’t too far off, motioning for him to head over asking if he’d seen what just happened. He said he had just turned around when I was making crazy eyes at him (he later told me how he had been heading to the bathroom when he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to find no one there, but saw me and the look on my face then gesturing for him to come- see how crazy cool God is!?).
He came over by my side trying to decipher what she was motioning, discovering she was trying to tell us about her abusive husband who beat her throughout the pregnancy, causing damage to the children and herself- a local who knew her came up during this exchange and filled us in on the gaps in the story, and affirmed that yes, she was deaf. At this point two of my teammates joined, Kristina and Lauren, and I felt The Lord prompting us to pray for her healing of her hearing along with the internal damage and pain she was suffering from. So we all laid our hands on her ears and stomach and began to pray.
And guess what?
Our loving Father healed his daughter.
Once we finished praying for her (God directed us to pray for her 3 times, praying for different specific healing each time), we asked the local man to ask her questions regarding what we had just prayed for her and if she knew who Jesus was, AND SHE RESPONDED TO HIM FLUENTLY- no gestures, no stuttering or stumbling over her words, as if she hadn’t been deaf a minute prior!! Kristina and I couldn’t wipe the ridiculous huge grins off of our faces as we sat there watching them conversation effortlessly.
In response to if she knew Jesus, yes she knew and believed. She had faith that her God would and could completely restore her, and he did. However the part that he truly cares for immensely more is the spiritual healing that needs to take place and I believe he absolutely touched that piece of her before moving into the physical aspect, healing her from those years of damage & injustice inflicted upon her.
It was an absolutely humbling moment that I felt honored and blessed to be allowed to be apart of, and I honestly don’t know why God chooses to use us to be apart of the work he does here on earth, but He graciously does! All he asks is for us to be willing and believe that he will do what he has always done throughout time.
Keep in mind that the inkling to ask about how that random stranger’s day could be apart of a MUCH bigger picture.
Please keep this woman & her beautiful children in your prayers!
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares The Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
