I’m excited for part 2 of this series. It’s going to challenge you. Because most of you reading this know me, and these are stories that I was a part of. That I saw with my own eyes and am now telling you. So my question is, what will you do with it? How does this change your view of who God is and who God isn’t? Shannon is set to preach but I tell her that I want to start the “service” with a different kind of prayer. I explain to her what I want to do, mostly so that she won’t let me chicken out. We arrive at the market, and by market I mean we are standing in the middle of a street that sells fruits and vegetables. Peter, our translator, and a few friends from church start singing worship songs in Swahili. 3 songs later he turns to us and says, “okay, it is your turn now.” My heart is beating fast. I love public speaking and I love telling people about the love of Christ, but today I am going to do something different. Something bold. Something that puts me (and everyone I’m with) in a position of ‘if God doesn’t show up, we fail miserably.’ Something God’s been calling me to for a long time now. Jesus, please let the words that come out be you and not me. “Mambo [hello]! We are here on a missions trip that is taking us around the world. We are here because we have lives that have been forever changed by the love of God. Because there is a God and he has a son Jesus that he sent to this Earth. And while Jesus was here he told people about the Kingdom of God, he loved people, and did many miracles and healings because he loves his people. Jesus is who he says he is. Jesus died on a cross for us, paying for our sins so we could have a relationship with God and have the Holy Spirit on Earth. One of the things Jesus told his disciples was to ‘go. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received so freely give.’ We just got back from villages and saw God heal a lot of people. If you are sick, if you are deaf, if you are blind, if you know of dead people, if you have any problems at all, come forward. Because God wants to move in your life today. Because God can heal his people.” I think my heart is going to explode out of my chest at this point. I’m excited and impressed I actually said it, and slightly nervous at what may happen next. I can’t bring myself to look at the other Racer’s faces because they had no idea I was going to say this. No one moves, everyone looks awkwardly around, and I resist the urge to say “Bueller.” Just. Waite. A woman comes forward with her 3 year old baby that has TB. I pray for healing for the mother and baby. Another woman brings her 4 year old son with a toothache to me. Chris & I pray for healing into his mouth and body. We prayed multiple times & he said there was no improvement. He was one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen and I spent time playing with him and bringing forth that beautiful smile and precious laughter of a child. We begin to pray for him. “God, heal Joseph because you love him and have compassion on him. You designed our bodies to proclaim your glory. Let him be healed because he is your child and anything else that happens is a bonus.” Others come over to pray, but there seems to be no improvement. Shannon begins to preach and share the Gospel with the crowd. I stay and pray with Joseph. I keep asking Joseph questions and snapping my fingers behind his ears to no response. I keep praying. 20 minutes later I ask, “Joseph, do you hear God?” and he points to the sky. No. Way. Did he just hear me? “Joseph, do you hear God?” I ask and again he points to the sky. I turn around and look at Chris who has the biggest smile on his face and say, “I think he can hear!” I snap my fingers behind Joseph’s head and he turns to look at the source of the sound. “Joseph, can you hear me?!” and he nods his head and smiles. “Joseph, say ‘yahway'” and he moves his mouth to make the words. No sound came out, but before Joseph couldn’t even open his mouth. People begin to notice and the response from the village is crazy – God just healed this child! – person approached Clint and flat out asked who Jesus was. Guy ends up accepting Christ, bringing friends to Clint to hear about Jesus (they accept Christ). Guy takes Clint to this bar across the street where Clint prays for a man. During prayer Clint prayed in tongues and after guy asks Clint “how did you know to say that? I thought you didn’t know Swahili.” – man healed of mental illness – Curt’s guitar brings forward a different group of people to minster to – a woman healed of stomach pain – spirit of abuse and shame broken off a father and son – Issac (little boy) had a swollen eye & couldn’t see. a bunch of Racers prayed (and had the little kids to join) for Issac multiple times and by the end his eye was no longer swollen and he could see completely – little boy drunk in the Spirit (who later came and prayed with us for Joseph) – Martin: a man who over dosed on malaria meds 10 years ago leaving him completely blind. We prayed and he gained half his vision. Prayed again and he gained full vision (funniest part: we ask if he can see and he looks at me and says, ‘you’re a mazungo!’ just like in Healing Pt 1 blog). He was able to point out specifics about people and places after
Our last Sunday in Tanzania and we are going to the market to preach after church. I can hear God whispering to me, “Be Bold.”
Someone taps me on the shoulder and says, “will you pray for Joseph?” Chris & I go over and meet 13 year old Joseph, who looks scared and is not responding to anyone/anything because he can’t hear at all. His mom tells us, “he is deaf, dumb and mute. The people of this village will believe in God if he is healed.”
　These are testimonies that I was a part of. Here are testimonies of things others saw that day (there were so many people to pray for we broke into pairs):
