David and I try to walk together regularly. Try is the operative word. Walking anywhere in Africa, especially on the back roads through the villages, is an exercise in greetings. Everyone greets, wants to know who you are and where you live, sometimes inviting you to their house, and sometimes asking for money or work. So we do our best to greet pleasantly while continuing to walk on by.Last Saturday started the usual way. We walked and greeted. We passed by the local homemade beer stand - where the young guys tried to tell us they were waiting for tea. And then , not having walked ten minutes, we met two old men, who had both been drinking already that morning and were on their way to the beer stand that we had passed. One asked for money. The other began to beg us to pray that he would stop being a drunk.
It is embarrassing to say that stopping to pray for him was not our first response. We wanted to keep going. But he kept begging for our prayers. Reminds me of a certain widow in the Bible begging a judge for justice. Finally, I laid my hand on his shoulder and asked the Lord to take this addiction to alcohol away from him - not for this man's benefit alone, but for the glory of God to show these people that there is a true God in their land. He fell on his knees, raising his hands to the sky.
We parted and continued walking, but hadn't gone three minutes when we returned, calling to us. And he seemed different. His eyes were clearer, his speech was clearer. He was different. He asked us to come and pray at his house.
We followed him and he brought out a grandchild about 4 months old. She was beautiful. But it was obvious that there was something wrong with her vision. She didn't blink. She didn't focus on me or track with her eyes. She may not be completely blind, but she certainly couldn't see much. We prayed for her. I know that this grandfather's desire was for her healing. She wasn't healed at that time. Perhaps God will improve her sight. Perhaps God has a different plan for her life that means she needs to be set apart from others - even though it will be an extremely hard life. We blessed the other children there, as well.
Another lady asked us to also come to her house and pray. So we followed her across the way. Her mother has problems with her legs and one of her sisters has problems getting pregnant which they linked to the ancestors. So we prayed again, for their illnesses and to bless their children.At this point we had been gone 40 minutes. Chloe was home alone and we don't like to leave her for more than an hour, so we turned around and headed back. It wasn't a morning of exercise, but it was certainly a morning of blessing. God wanted to use us and was gracious enough to open our eyes (often so stubbornly closed) so that we could actually see His workings. I am so thankful.
These setbacks are always discouraging. We have become stronger, though, and are handling it much better. But your prayers for us are vital. Sometimes God protects and sometimes He wants us to "man up." It is a way to teach us resolve and perseverance. It is a testing to burn away the dross. It has not been something we wanted or were pleased to experience, but I have become thankful that God loves us enough to make us more like Christ. I am thankful that He is not content to let us be, but wants us to be more and has confidence that we can live up to His expectations.
Continue praying for us and for our pastors and leaders. We need you so much to keep us strong, to keep our eyes open to the Lord's will.
Blessings.
