Obedience

15 days ago, on the dot, we did a Luke 10 challenge. You can go read Luke 10 to learn more about it, I also talked about it in my last blog. Well, that day we were praying and the Lord told me that there was a lady who would be healed of brain cancer and that her name was Maria. I was like “Lord, that’s a big thing but I trust you” I told the group I was with but nothing happened that day. Didn’t meet anyone named Maria, especially one with brain cancer. So I kept praying about it. I’ve learned a lot about intercession and knew that there was someone out there who would be healed. Well today, our last day of ministry in Guatemala, we were sent out with the intentions to talk to gringos, to prepare us for going back to the states. Last night, actually early this morning, I had a dream and we were talking with this guy, I’ll explain more later when it comes to pass, but I was with Ella. So we asked the leaders if I could switch teams for the afternoon. So me, Ella and then Anna, who speaks Spanish, went out to talk with people. I’ll explain the first part of the day later in this blog but later in the afternoon we were walking and came upon this corner and there is this old women with a beautiful smile. She first asks us for money but we said no, but asked her how she was.  She gets sad and says that she has had an awful headache for the past 15 days. And then I ask her what her name is. You guessed it, Maria. We didn’t do the math until later but like I said, exactly 15 days ago the Lord told me about her. We asked if we could pray for her but she made an excuse that she had to leave. I’m pretty sure she was Catholic and here Catholics don’t really pray outside of their house or church. So she left and we prayed for her. A different group of racers came by and wanted to also go pray for her and were able to pray with her also. I believe that she was healed. I believe that by her being healed, the goodness of the Lord and his love for her will be revealed to her. We don’t get to see the fruit but I trust in the Lords promises that he tells us. Also, I wasn’t initially going to be with Anna and Ella, if I wasn’t I would of been in a different part of the city, with no one who speaks Spanish, and probably wouldn’t have crossed paths with her. The Lords timing and way he makes something’s happen is truly beautiful and has taught me so much about obedience and following promptings by the Holy Spirit that make no sense rationally.

Now, backtrack with me a little, we are walking around and Ella wanted some coffee. So we stop at a small coffee shop. Ella gets her drink, Anna is small talking with a guy, Ella looks at me and she’s like my heart really hurts. And I was like me too. It was very painful, not like heavy spiritually, which we’ve both experienced before, but physically in pain. We were like that’s so odd. Maybe we just needed to drink more water. We both prayed we said Lord give us discernment and then Anna was done with her conversation and we left. We got about a block away, both Ella and my pain went away but I had this feeling that we needed to go back. We were feeling someone elses pain. But we got so nervous. We were like that’s so embarrassing to go back in, and ask a question like that. They’re gonna think we’re so weird. So we decided to pray and got the courage to go back in. By this point all of our squad leaders were in there also so there was an audience, so to say. So we head back in. Anna asks the workers in Spanish, “we know this is a very weird question, but do any of you guys have heart pain, or a heart illness?” They kinda look around and are like no, very confused, and we were kinda like oh well, we’ll shake it off and keep going. But then the guy, who is around our age is like “let me go ask in the back really quick.” We were like alright. And then he comes back out with his coworker who’s a women around our age. We talk to her and she has a heart condition and it’s often in pain. So we got to pray for her also and explain how the Lord brought us to her. We don’t know if anything changed but we believe in faith that it was healed.

The Lord has taught me so much on obedience recently. A biblical definition of obedience is hearing the word of God and acting on it. I have been fervently reading James 5:15-16. It’s says “and the prayer offering in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. … The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” I’ve been reading it over and over again as I pray for people. If you’re in my circle from back home you’ve might of seen that Kylie tore her acl. When I found out she got injured I prayed for hours this prayer over here. She got an MRI and it was torn. I felt defeated. Lord do you not care about me or Kylie? Why would you do that? And I still don’t know why. I’ll keep praying. But I think the Lord has used this situation and the past two testimonies I shared to strengthen my obedience to him. I had to make the conscious, faithful decision to still pray for these two women even when my past hours of prayers didn’t seem to work. I had to still believe that what scripture says is true and I will not stop using it as a weapon. The Lord wants our obedience, and by showing him your yes, he will continue to bless you and those around you. So don’t give up if the prayer of healing doesn’t work the first time. Or second. Or 500th. Trust that the Lord is using it all for his goodness and glory and not our own.

Another quick testimony from tonight was at worship room. It’s a Christian owned coffee shop and on every Thursday they have worship night. So a group of us were able to go tonight. For the first half we worshipped in the shop and then second half we went out to the streets and worshipped and passed out coffee in the park. Lots a small testimonies from that that I can share later but anyways, remember in my last blog when I talked about that young guy we met on our Luke 10 day? The one whose family gave us the food. Well we texted him and he was able to come to the prayer/worship time in the park. He’s a 17 year old who follows the Lord but hasn’t really evangelized much in his life before. Understandable. But he showed his obedience to the Lord by driving 45 minutes on a school night to Antigua to pray in the park. We encouraged him to go and talk and pray with people and it was beautiful to watch. That’s one of the coolest parts of meeting with people around our age around the world is encouraging them to do them same that we’re doing, when we’ve left. And it’s even more powerful to see people in their own culture rise up and be leader and spread the kingdom. So prayers for Benjamin to continue sharing the love of the Lord and talking to people even when he has no friends who do the same.

I could write for pages and pages of the Lords goodness, and I will some more in the next few days, but thank you for reading this. I hope you go away from this encouraged. The Lord is good, and alive, and is worthy of your yes.

God bless you all,

Lauren