This month we’re talking about miracles, stories of seeing the power of God in supernatural ways.
While serving in a medical clinic in Zambia, Natalie Gale of 2015 R Squad suggested to her squadmate that they should start sharing the Gospel. It was at that moment the wind picked up — and ripped the roof of the building they stood in!
It was a normal day on the Race: caring for babies, preaching the gospel, and being in a building as a tornado-like wind ripped the roof off.
Just kidding — that last part isn’t typical. But it did happen.
It was our second day of doing medical outreaches, travelling to different health posts around Zambia. Our task was to work with mothers and children. Mamas from all around brought their babies, wrapped on their backs, to the health posts, along with health cards distributed from Zambian hospitals at the time of birth.
We weighed the children, recorded the growth patterns, took health records, and administered vaccinations — or “gave jabs,” as they called it. I grew increasingly confident about my skills administering vaccines with each one given, despite my initial nervousness.
Zach and I sat side-by-side giving jabs to our patients. He filled the syringes and Ruth, the Zambian nurse, and I gave injections. Never have I made so many babies cry in my life! In total, I probably helped to vaccinate about 80 children that day.
We worked well as a team, helping to prevent measles, TB, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, pneumonia, and rotavirus that day. The lines of women slowed, and we started to pack up. A large group of women waited outside the school building for a talk on health.
The day before, we shared about spiritual health — and the only way to receive healing from the spiritual disease of sin — in addition to sharing about physical health and hygiene. We saw several women get healed after laying hands and praying over them, so while packing up I looked at Zach and said, “Let’s share God’s word!”
As soon as the words left my mouth, the wind started to pick up.
Dust swirled and the villagers started running around yelling. Dirt and wood pieces flew through the windows. I ran to the wall between the windows to avoid being overwhelmed by the spiraling dust.
Suddenly, I heard a huge crashing noise. The tornado drills of my childhood took over, and I dropped to my knees, covering my neck with my hands. The noise grew louder. I felt something smack my neck as a chunk of wood from the structure hit me. I mentally prepared myself: Nat, the roof may fall down. Prepare yourself. The building may crash down on you.
I stayed curled in a small ball, covered in dirt, for a few more moments until the chaos calmed. Finally I stood, slightly disoriented from the sudden windstorm, and looked up.
The metal sheeting roof had been completely ripped off the school house.
Zach and I ran outside, he to the front and I to the back, looking under the wreckage to make sure no one was trapped. It was pandemonium.
People shouted and ran, looking in dismay at the school building and at us, thinking we’d brought the tornado. I was shocked to find only two people with injuries.
One child cried because she’d been hit by a large piece of wood. She was scared, but wasn’t bleeding and didn’t have a bump on her head. I told Zach to pray over the little girl, to hold her, and to give her our lunch apple. He did, and she calmed down.
As he tended to the child, I brought a woman bleeding with a head wound into another building. The nurse and I tended to the woman: shaving parts of her head around the wound, cleaning the blood from her body, and sterilizing the injury. I was nervous she would go into shock, so I kept telling her to breathe deeply and remain seated. She was incredibly calm, even as the gash nearly revealed her skull.
Zach talked to the people, assuring that we hadn’t brought the storm. He taught them the “duck and cover position,” then led the group in thankful worship for God’s protection.
Only minutes before the tornado hit, all of the rooms of the building were full of classes of school children and mamas holding babies.
None of them were harmed.
God performed miracles that day.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
— Psalm 91:1–4
Do you want to experience God’s power while serving Him on the World Race? Click HERE to find out how you can GO in Fall 2016!
