Blessed By A Child

Two nights ago, Thursday night, was a night I will never forget. The day began in a very ordinary way. We ate breakfast at 8, as usual, then myself and Claire and Sam went to do our daily job, painting. We painted a primer coat on a tutoring classroom and a wall of the boys house then went to lunch, and that is when I got my first hint that something was up.

Before I continue I must tell you that I strongly believe in both angels and demons. I also believe that they can interact with us and our world. I experienced a demon when I was younger for a few months, but that is a story for another time. There is a lot of spiritual warfare at Cicrin. Apparently the Sandinistas, a rebel force or something, occupied the orphanage during a time of political turmoil in Nicaragua. We do not know why or how, but the people running the orphanage say that there is a strong demonic presence around the orphanage left over from the Sandinistas. Some of our team members have had demonic nightmares. I have felt the presence of a spirit of fear that I have encountered before. However, while Satan is making his presence known at the orphanage, God is also acting, and he is stronger.

So, at lunch on Thursday I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned to Crystal who was the only person around me and asked her if she tapped me and she said no. I thought that she must have been lying because I definitely felt a tap, but I let it go. In the afternoon we played with the children for a long time and I got very tired. We were supposed to join the children for their weekly worship that night, but since I was so tired I thought about asking my leaders if I could just go to bed instead of worshipping. Thank God I did not. I was laying in my hammock a little later, before worship started, still thinking about whether or not to go to bed, when I felt another tap on the shoulder. I immediately sat up and looked around, but no one was there. Then I thought (maybe it was God) so I prayed asking why He was tapping me, I was tired and I wanted to go to bed. He did not answer so I figured I would stay up for worship and see what happened.

Then worship started. We gathered in el rancho, which is a large pavillion with a tile floor and no walls. The children all sat in a group in front of a bench, and we sat around them in a semicircle. The uncle of the boys (not their actual uncle, a man who stays with them and helps take care of them) sat on the bench in front of us all and warmed up his voice with his guitar before we began. Then the supernatural began to encroach upon our world. I looked up at the laundry pavillion (which was in my line of sight when looking at the worship leader) and saw the silouhette of an angel. It was only a glimpse, but I knew a lot from it. Somehow I knew the angel was there watching the children and protecting them, and also observing what was about to happen. We started worshipping and I sang the few songs I knew in English, while one of the boys tried to get me to sing them in Spanish (a futile endeavor as I know almost no Spanish). Then eventually we stopped singing and all the children went over to a Gringo. I had no idea what was going on because the woman who is our main contact was speaking spanish to the children and did not tell us what was happening. Every child went over and sat in someones lap, but the boy who had been trying to get me to sing in Spanish came up behind me and put his hand on my head. He started to play with my hair and speaking, I did not know what was going on so I tried to grab his hand and start praying for him. Then our contact told us that the children were going to pray for us, and just to sit and be blessed by them.

So I sat and was blessed. It was incredible. The boy began praying for me, all the while playing with my hair, and I became a child again. A child sitting, being blessed by their parent. It was so strange and so wonderful. People always say (you will go to another country to bless people, but sometimes you end up being blessed by them). Well, I was literally blessed by these children. The boy prayed and I felt a strength in the spirit in him that I have rarely felt. He prayed for me for around 20 minutes, and he never stopped praying. I do not know what he was saying, but I know that the Holy Spirit was there in him, and I know I have been blessed by him. The sense of peace and love during the prayer was amazing. I have to admit I cried a little while he was praying. It was so clear what God was saying to me, (you are my child, and I will bless you, even through the children you have come to serve).

That night I went to bed full of peace. I had felt God so strongly that I knew no spirit could make me afraid. So you see, even if the Devil haunts our dreams, instills fear in our hearts, or makes us doubt our faith or effectiveness. God is there, blessing us all the time, his presence strong even in the children. Please pray for us, we are fighting Satan here, but we could always use more prayers. We pray many times a day that God would bring his presence even more here. Every night I take some team members out to walk around the compound to pray for peace and to rebuke spirits and demons. So know that we are fighting a spiritual battle, and even though you are not with us, you can help us. Pray for peace here, pray for rest, pray that we would ignore Satans lies, and pray that God would change Cicrin from an old fortress of the Devil, to a new fortress of God.

As always I apolgize for grammar and spelling errors as I do not have time to proof read or edit.