"Faith, when walking through the dark with God, only asks Him to hold his hand more tightly." Phillip Brooks
Two weeks ago, Saleena and I stayed in the barrios with the Perez family. It was absolutely incredible, but due to lack of time I am only going to tell one story. At some point I would like to also share the story of my whole time living with them.
It was a Thursday night. Saleena and I had eaten, once again, a meal that would last us a lifetime, and it was very delicious. After dinner we talked with Mama Perez for a while and played with the kids. The Perez family wanted us to visit another family in the barrios that night. I didn't know what to expect. As we walked up to the house, all the lights were off and the door was shut. It was about 7pm. After a few minutes they answered the door. As we walked in the house there was an immediate heaviness.
We met Carlos (the father), Carolina (the daughter, 4 years old) and Anna (the mom). Carlos seemed happy and a little bit goofy, Carolina didn't smiled the whole time we were there, and the mother seemed exhausted and broken down.
After we talked to the family for a little bit, Mama and Yuri (Mama's daughter) were looking around the house. In the back of the house is a long kitchen. On the right side of the doorway a girl was sitting in a rocking chair. The room was dark and musty. Yuri told me to go back and see the girl. When I first saw her, I had a hint of fear, but then I overcame it and walked up to her. I rubbed her on the arm and asked her how she was. She didn't reply.
Klelia is 11 years old. She is mute and cannot see very well. She has a difficult time keeping her head up and walking, and she also has multiple convulsions during the day. Before she was born her mother had trouble with the pregnancy. At about 6 months after birth, Klelia began to have problems with her brain, or what her parents call a 'sickness.' She has some type of cerebral damage. She had many surgery's and medications, but her parents cannot afford to continue the operations.
Saleena and I both knew that at this moment we had to pray for her. God also spoke to Saleena about visiting her again and praying for her which you can read more about in Saleena's blog. He also told her that we need to read to her the story of Elijah when he prayed 7 times for rain (1 King 19:41-46). We decided we would visit her again the next week.
The next morning I woke up and read my devotional from "Streams in the Desert." It spoke about Elijah, when he prayed 7 times for the rain to come. I talked to Saleena about it and we decided to pray for Klelia and her family 7 times. Also, as a team we were asked to fast Monday through Wednesday. We would visit Klelia again on Wednesday. Saleena and I studied the scriptures and decided that if this was an evil spirit inside of Klelia, God would use us to cast it out. If not, He would use us to heal her, for we do have the power of God in us.
Saleena and I prayed, fasted and studied, all the while giving every fear and doubt we had to God. I felt like I was an athlete getting ready for a race or a soldier getting ready for war. In Mark 9 it speaks of a time that the disciples tried to heal a boy from an evil spirit. It didn’t work so well and Jesus had to take over, as usual. The disciples asked him why they couldn't cast it out. Jesus said 'This kind can be cast out only by prayer and fasting.' That was encouraging! So, we had been fasting, praying and studying. Now we just have to depend on God to come through and we have to maintain complete faith and trust in him.
When Wednesday came around our team prayed for us and we were sent off to Klelia's house. Alisa came with us also. We were ready for a healing. We were ready to see the miracle! Mama's son and daughter (Jorge Luis and Yuri) came to the house with us.
We knocked on the door, and a few minutes later Carlos poked his head out. He accepted us in and we greeted the family. I walked to the back room where they had Klelia standing up. Her mom walked her into the living room. This was incredible to me because I didn't see her walk last time. Carlos was goofy as usual, his wife a little standoffish, but Carolina smiled as big as I had ever seen her smile. She laughed and laughed when Saleena acted like a fish. It was so incredible to see her smile. The whole house seemed lighter. We talked to the family for a long time asking them about their lives and about Klelia. They told us their story. Klelia almost had a convulsion at one point, but it stopped short. For the hour and a half we visited them, she did not have one full convulsion. The first time we visited her, she had 3 full convulsions and we were with her for 20 minutes.
We read them the story of Elijah praying for rain and told them we had been praying for them and their family. We prayed for Klelia multiple times and prayed over the whole family. We were able to talk to the family about the love of Christ and invited them to church. They seemed excited about coming. What a blessing!
Although Klelia was not fully healed, I truly believe that a seed was planted in that family. We told them if they believed Klelia could be healed they need to pray, study the Bible, and trust in God. Even though I don't know where their hearts are, I believe a change took place in them that day.
I did wonder why God didn't heal her completely. But I came to the assurance that God is almighty, he knows exactly what needs to be done, and if that means it wasn't time for Klelia to be completely healed, I am okay with that. But I do know that a seed was planted deep in that family. I do know now that they will be more curious about God. I do know that Carolina was smiling. I do know that Jorge Luis and Yuri were there to hear us talk about the love of Jesus Christ. I do know that my faith has grown through this and I will only hold tighter to God's hand. God is good…All the time!
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths." -Proverbs 3:5-6
