So this story may not exactly have the outcome that most of you expect, but far from being a dissapointment, I think it’s just a prime example of God’s ways not being ours. It doesn’t have the cookie cutter ending hollywood tells us makes a good sotry, but I’m pretty sure in God’s book it’s just as important as any other great story. It certainly ranks up there in my book as an amazing testament to God’s.. well.. awesomness!
So there’s this blind girl who sits in front of the local bank, begging alms. Not an altogether uncommon sight to see beggars. But there was something different about this one.. Something that instantly gripped my heart the instant I set eyes on her.. Compassion, pity perhaps. Feelings not altogether alien in Africa. But still something drew me to her, something that said that Christ had something He wanted to do in her life.
So I began to pray: “Lord just show me a way to minister to this woman. Open a door for me to pray for her.” And the funniest thing happened(sarcasm) God showed up! He answered my prayer the very next day in a kind of unexpected way. We were at the church for an AIDS support group meeting, an guess who walks in the front door with a stick and two children showing her the way? Yep you guessed it.
She walked into the meeting, Lucy the girl I’d been praying for. The very next day God opened a door for me to lay hands on her and pray for her healing, not only for the blindness which I knew aout, but the AIDS which I didn’t! After she walked in I just wanted to dance an dshout and scream and praise my Lord with everything in me.
And so as a team we lay hands on her and prayed with her and over her and for her healing, for two consecutive hours we ministered to her. As we prayed the heavens opened up with rain and it just monsooned! I’ve never seen such a downpour! It was such a neat visual cue that God was actively there in our midst, not aloof somewhere else. It was s uch a powerful experience of God’s awesome love and power. We all felt His presence in our midst as clearly as if you could feel the heat reverberating off someone who’s standing very close to you…
But here’s the part that may be a little troubling, but I really have no problems with. Even though God showed up and did amazing things, she wasn’t instantly healed. She left the same way she came. I have complete faith that she will be healed. It was totally a divine appointment. God did that for a reason, and Lucy herself even said she believed she would be healed. So in Jesus Name she will be healed, we just have to wait for HIS timing. And that’s sometimes one of the harest aspects of ministry is just waiting on the Lord.
Praise God for what He’s doing, and for divine encounters that just blow my mind!
