The Man of My Dream

I may have met the man of my dream the other day, and I’m so excited to share! 

 (Photo creds to Ashley Smith)

Let me give a little back story… 

One of my goals each month is to do a Treasure Hunt (Holy Spirit style) or ATL (Ask the Lord) where we basically go out looking for God’s treasures, letting Him guide us, and pray for anyone we encounter. Well, our ministry in Ecuador didn’t look like this, and unfortunately, I did not take the time outside of ministry to make this happen on my own. Before I know it, the month is over, we are saying our goodbyes and heading to debrief in Baños, Ecuador to meet up with the other teams, share our testimonies, and discuss the next month. There are several on the squad who get as excited about Treasure Hunting as I do, so we talked about doing this on our travel day to Peru  (25+ hour bus ride).  

The night before we leave, I have a dream. In my dream, I remember meeting an elderly man on the side of the road. This man was selling artwork, small paintings and such. I began talking with him and I remember him telling me that his back hurt a lot. He kept putting his hand on his back in anguish and bending over to show me where. Of course I wasn’t going to just let this go, so I asked if I could pray for him and did so. Then, my dream switched to the next scene where I was helping this man load his artwork into the back of a truck. I don’t remember talking to him again, but he was all smiles and walking upright! I thought, Yay! His back has been healed! Praise God! Then I woke up. I don’t remember much about what the man looked like, except that he was elderly, a bit wrinkled, and looked as if from South America (maybe Ecuadorian or Peruvian). It is not uncommon to see elderly men and women selling all kinds of things on the streets in the cities we’ve ministered in, so I thought, Maybe I’ll meet this  man on the way to Peru! Unfortunately, we did not have much time at stops  during our long bus ride, so sadly I did not find the man on our travel day. 

Now, fast forward a week into Peru. It was our first adventure day after a week of  ministry and my team decided to hit the beach. Y’all, here in Pacasmayo, we are legit  5 minutes away from the beach. IT IS AMAZING. So, of course we went to get our surfing on …but that’s another story for another day. Alright, back to the beach. After about 30 minutes of laying our towels out, putting that sunscreen on, and soaking up some Peruvian sun, we were approached by an elderly man. This man came asking for money for food, which most of us did not bring much of anyways, and we were warned by our hosts to avoid giving money out unless we talk to them first. Therefore, we apologized to the man and he walked away. My amazing squad leader, Madison, reminded us that of course we still need to always keep an ear on Holy Spirit and listen if He is telling us to give anything. I felt convicted. But I didn’t have money, so… oh well.  

Fast forward 20 minutes. I decided it was time to get my snack out. Apples with homemade peanut butter, Yum! Y’all, if you ever travel to South America, pack extra peanut butter (it is expensive here so we don’t get a lot). I pull out my apple, about ready to take a bite, look around and guess who is sitting on a bench, just yonder on the boardwalk… the same elderly man. I don’t think he was necessarily watching us, but still… I couldn’t just eat my apple in peace after we just sent him away hungry. Yup. You guessed it. That Holy Spirit conviction came back and now I had to do something about it. I told my team that I was going to offer my apple (or at least half) to the man because that he was still in sight from our sunbathing location. And off I went… 

I walked up to the man and told him that although I didn’t have money, I wanted to share my apple and peanut butter. I was about to give him half and enjoy the other half with him… but why? I had plenty of food back at home so there was no reason to be stingy. He thanked me and gladly took the bag. That was the door to an amazing encounter. I think his name was Lucha and the next thing I knew, we were talking for the next hour (well, more like him talking 80% of the time and me attempting to understand 40% of what he said). As I listened to this man’s story, I realized that sometimes, all someone needs is a smile, a little empathy, and a listening ear. From what I could gather, this man was from Chile, had only been in Pacasmayo for 18 hours, had no money for his next meal, his family had all passed away, and he was traveling from country to country, maybe trying to find work? His next stop was Quito, Ecuador (where my team had just come from), so I recommended he look for the ministry we had just served at the month before. He told me that he used to be a fisherman, and modeled how he would gather the nets of fish. However, because of this job, he hurt his back. He kept putting his hand on his back in anguish and bending over to show where and how it got hurt.

LIKE WHA??? *Insert mic drop*

Now, OF COURSE I wasn’t going to just let this go! In the best Spanish I could conjure up, I attempted to tell this man about how I had just had a dream the week prior in which I was praying for an elderly man and that his back was healed. I then told him how much he was loved by Christ Jesus and that I believed he too would be healed. I believe he said he was a Christian, or at least talked about going to a church. He let me pray for his back and I asked him how if felt. And guess what… it felt better! I asked if it was some better or completely better and he said it still hurt a little. So we prayed again! As far as he told me, his back was healed, or at least much better than it had been. PRAISE THE LORD!! I reminded him again how much the Lord loves him and prayed blessings over his life and his journey.  

I thank the Lord for His conviction and this encounter. I thank the Lord for using my dream to give me the courage to pray for healing. And I thank the Lord for apples and peanut butter to share. As I said, I don’t remember how the man in my dream looked  exactly, but it sure did seem like he was the man in my dream. What about the artwork, you ask? Well, that man is God’s beautiful masterpiece, as we all are. So, there ya go! 

Life is ministry and ministry is life. 

 We say this phrase often on the race. Just because we had an “off day” from ministry doesn’t mean we can’t take God’s love everywhere we go. I encourage you to look out for the one in your life. Pay attention to your dreams and ask God for more. Keep an eye out for doors that you can knock on as you go about your day. One of those doors might just open a heart. One of those doors might bring healing. One of those doors might just change a life forever. 

 (Photo creds to Ashley Smith)

“And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;” ~ Acts 2:17