After several hours of traveling and waiting in airports, I was finally boarding my plane to Mexico City. It had been in the works for a couple of months and the day had finally arrived. It was March 2003, and I was going to Mexico City on my first mission trip with Operation Serve International. When I boarded the plane, the Holy Spirit whispered something so profound to me, “This will be a life-changing experience for you.” I was so excited. After all, it is always my hope to be changed by Him who is the only one who has the ability to change me. I had no idea what was in store, but I was anxiously awaiting the work of the Lord.
The next morning, we arose early at our hotel and were assigned to our areas of work. We would be going to a dump site in Mexico City and setting up a make-shift medical clinic. Here we would be providing medical, dental, and vision care for the people in the dumps. I’m sure Connie could see the disappointment when she assigned me to work in dental. I was in the middle of nursing school and it was my desire to be used in this capacity. But something in my spirit said God had other plans for me and I was right where He wanted me to be.
I was privileged to work with Dr. Ismael, a national dentist, for the week. He had a measure of faith I had not seen in my three years of Christianity. Our whole team was cut deep in our hearts when he shared his testimony with us one evening. He was about 20 years old (which was about 12 years before this time) when he and another friend had eaten a taco from a street vendor. They both became violently ill and within a few days, his friend sadly passed away. Tears welled up in his eyes as he recalled this time in his life. He told us day by day, he continued to get sicker and sicker. Finally, the grave news came when doctors told him there was nothing they could do for him and they didn’t think he would live two more weeks. He was not a believer at the time, but the Lord sent his aunts to his side to share with him about Jesus. They explained that the Lord could heal him and if he wanted to accept Him in his life, they believed the Lord would restore his health. Right there, he accepted Jesus in his life and within 3 days, he was completely restored to health. It was truly a miracle. I could go on and on about what God had done in his life since that time His testimony to the Lord and our experience working with him was such a time of faith for all of us. After 10 days of personal revival and being changed from the inside out, we all said our goodbyes to the Operation Serve Team. I returned home but all that Dr. Ismael shared with me about his faith has stayed in my heart until this day.
In June of 2003, the Lord opened another door for me to return to Mexico City for a second mission. Again I arrived to Mexico City for the Lord to finish what He had started in me just three months before. Our team loaded the bus in the morning to go to the dumps. There sitting by herself was a young, quiet woman. I sat down next to her and introduced myself. All the way to the site, we talked and shared with each other. I was sad as she shared with me how as a young child, she never felt loved by her family. She explained how this experience as a child caused her to have some deep wounds in her heart that affected her mentally and spiritually.
After a long time of talking, she started to share in more detail how this experience of feeling unloved had affected her life as an adolescent. Sarah explained that she started noticing that she was not having any “normal” relationships with boys. She didn’t feel comfortable around them and just started to get a lot of anxiety. It really started to bother her and she developed a bipolar disorder. This caused her thoughts to be very clouded and this is where the enemy was able to get her to start believing a lie. She said her thoughts started to mess with her and she felt that maybe because she couldn’t have any normal relationships with boys, that she must be a lesbian. It started to seep into her mind and into her heart and if it weren’t for the Lord’s protection, this lie would have utterly destroyed this woman. She started to struggle with this temptation and it completely ravaged her heart and soul. I have to be honest, as she explained these things to me, I got really uncomfortable. I had just met Sarah on the bus ride to the site and I was sitting all alone with her while she was telling me she struggled with being a lesbian. At that time, I just said a little prayer in my heart to the Lord. “Lord, just help me have wisdom to minister to this woman,” I prayed. I trusted the Lord for His strength because I knew He had me sitting next to her for a reason.
Sarah shared that through all of these emotional, physical and mental struggles, she had committed her life to Jesus and He was bringing her mind back to where it needed to be. She continued seeking the Lord for deliverance in this area that she struggled with. “One time God spoke to me,” she said out of the blue. Sarah explained that she is a math major and she often times will think in terms of numbers. One morning while she was struggling, the Lord placed a number in her heart. The number was 4. A little while later, another number came to her. It was the number 23. She was perplexed by these numbers that were dropped into her spirit, until finally she asked God for understanding. She waited on the Lord and later that morning, the word Proverbs was on her heart. She grabbed her bible and looked up <strong>Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. This was a Word from the Lord and she knew it. She said from that day forward, she had been holding on to those Words from the Lord. I was amazed at God and pondered in my heart how efficient and sufficient He truly is. He is totally able to meet all of our needs in whatever way that He chooses to do it.
As we continued to drive, we had a few moments of silence. When she broke the silence, she said with her quiet voice, “Do you think I am going to struggle with this my whole life?” For a second, I didn’t know if I could answer her. But the Lord quickened my spirit and gave me wisdom…not my wisdom but His. I told her, sexual sin is a problem with your flesh and the Word says, “Do not let my Word depart from before your eyes, because it is health and healing to ALL of your flesh.” I thought to myself…where did that come from? In fact, when she asked me where the scripture was, I didn’t even know. I thought it might be in Proverbs, but we spent the rest of the trip looking through Proverbs to no avail. I apologized to her that I couldn’t find it for her, but I assured her that it was indeed there. I knew she wanted to find it in print so she could hold on to that promise.
Within a few minutes, we heard the rattling of the bus and we were stopped at a gas station to pick up someone. I looked up from my bible and there was Dr. Ismael! I waved to him and he looked surprised to see me. He sat down several seats from me and the bus driver put it in gear and we drove to our site.
Finally, we had arrived at our destination…the dumps. I walked off the bus with Sarah, and apologized again that I couldn’t find the scripture. We gave each other a hug and I encouraged her to keep holding on to the promises of God. She gave me a nod and we walked off to our separate work sites.
As I entered the building, I saw Dr. Ismael standing there. He had a big smile on his face and then he reached right into his shirt pocket and pulled out a folded piece of purple paper. Handing me the piece of paper, in his broken English, he explained that right after I left Mexico three months earlier, he and his wife, Rosa, were in a car accident. In their private prayer time with the Lord after their accident, they both had asked the Lord why He had allowed this to happen to them. In answer to them, the Lord gave them three scriptures. Taking the piece of purple paper from him, he said , “And the Lord told me to give these to you because you would need them.” As I think back on this event, I couldn’t even tell you what the first two verses were, but when I looked at the third verse written on the paper, I saw Proverbs 4:20-23. I looked down at the word “Proverbs” and as if the world had stopped for a moment, I immediately knew this was the scripture I was looking for to give to Sarah.
Excitement swirled in my head as I began to grasp that the God of the universe had given this Word to Sarah three months prior to her ever arriving into the country and Dr. Ismael had no knowledge that I would even be there. I snapped the piece of paper into my palm and I ran out of the building and into the bus. I reached up in the luggage carrier of the bus and pulled down my blue bible. There it was in print…Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. It was beautiful. The Lord had provided His Words for Sarah before her search ever began. His Word is true when He says, “ask and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7
I leapt off the bus to search for Sarah. You should have seen her face when she realized what God had done on her behalf. She lit up like Times Square. The Lord gave her assurance that He was going to take care of her and by His Word and His Word alone He would heal her flesh. We marveled at what an awesome God we were serving. Then she said, “And look, the scripture that the Lord spoke to me months before that I have been holding on to is just below it.” It was as if God was finishing a thought He had for her and waited for the perfect time to finish the thought.
This Jesus is like no other, friends. He is always looking out for you and for me. He is always willing and able to meet all of our needs, physically, spiritually, and mentally. He desires to speak to us personally through His Word, other believers, and through His Spirit. My prayer is that the Lord would speak to you so profoundly that you would never let go of His promises. His promises are for good and the Lord will never fall short of His beautiful promises to you.
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