With Chris arriving sleepless (from Seattle? Nah!!) from England, a steady morning turned into a very busy late afternoon and evening. We were at a Baptist church tonight, ‘Pan de Vida’ (Bread of Life), pastored by a lovely guy, Arturo Zapato. We were there last July, and then, as well as his church, he opened up a hospital to us, incredibly poor in a mountain village just outside the city, where we saw miracle after miracle, having seen some in is church then. The story is the same – miracles in the church tonight, and the hospital next Wednesday 7th.
Chris preached tonight, and preached very well, about the challenge to go – ‘here am I, send me’ – not always to the nations, but to hospitals like that. At the end, having seen God do miracles in his previous 3 visits here, Chris was up or them from the start. I’ll find out his stories tomorrow, as it’s past midnight and he’s not slept for almost 48 hours! – as after church, we went to the home of Dario and Erica: from there, to pray for Erica’s aunt, who is in a fairly advanced stage of dementia. More about that in a minute…
In church, he first man I prayed for, with great pastor friend Wilmar, had only 20% vision, with glaucoma and cataracts stealing his sight from him over the past 20 years. A noticeable improvement in his sight was a joy to him, and us! – and I felt it would go on through the night. A lady with major pain as a result of a very bad fall – chronic neck and spinal pain – had all the pain go. Another, with compressed vertebra and discs, with ankellosing spondylitis (is that how you spell it? my auto correct came up with ‘snorkelling’!!), extreme pain in the left side of her face, left arm, leg, and foot, was healed on the spot, moving her head in every direction, including 90 degrees left and right, backwards, and circular neck movements. The pain in her ace and left side all went.
One devastating prayer time was with a totally distraught mum, Julia, and her 9 year old daughter, Anamaria. Anamaria is 9 years old, had a troubled history with her dad (divorced from Julia) and his mother, who was a witch. Anamaria first attempted suicide when she was 7, and again 6 months ago. Peace fell on her troubled young spirit and mind, and on mum, too: please pray for them, as of course, only tie will tell what really happened inside her.
The Pastor’s mother and sister were both healed, which is always nice! – and others were freed from pain and distress.
Then, to Dario and Erica’s: but our ‘work’ was not over, as Dario (how I love that man!) always packs whatever house we’re in, with people from his family, or friends, and colleagues, for us to pay for! His mum, Lileana, was healed – and was hit by the Holy Spirit and fell forwards – I’m greatly relieved Chris caught her, as I’m not sure (tonight, at least) that my knees would have taken her weight! Michelle, D & E’s daughter, had a painful arm healed: it came back, and was healed again… others in the family were blessed by God with healing, and it was a great joy to pray for Dario again, who’d had a car hit his motorbike, and had a lot of pain and wounds, including some serious stitches, in his hand and foot. What was even more wonderful was that, in the 2½ years I’ve known him, he’s always worn a tight elastic body stocking, holding his body together from the 30 surgeries he’d had from gunshot wounds. I’d prayed last time (July) I saw him that he’d not need it anymore. He doesn’t wear it any longer. He told me how much he’d prayed for me last summer when he heard I was so ill, and nearly dying, and that blessed me immensely. And tonight he was almost in tear as he said ‘God is my Father’ when Wilmar and I prayed for some of the traumas that surround him as he continues to ‘shut down’ his old life….
What a great first day…. two churches tomorrow – 1000 and 1700, one in a tough city district, the other in a poor mountain village, La Sirena. Doubtless a busy day, doubtless more stories.. 🙂
