All the proof you need of God's presence inside this mud/cement hut is in the photo below ~ absolutely stunning photography captured by Mike our resident hot shot behind the camera! I call this one "God's glow"
While we were enjoying the coffee Amanda asked our host Hannah if we might be able to pray over the girl who was preparing our coffee(pictured in the above photos), so Hannah asked her. She agreed but was a bit worried about getting “caught” and getting into trouble. So we promised to be discrete. She shared that “people like us often use this time for stuff like this but this was the first time she was being invited to participate”…we could tell that even in her reservation she was excited to be participating in our love for Jesus and ultimately His love for her. Just then Amanda asked our group if someone would volunteer to pray for the young girl and immediately a vibe of energy surged through my body and I felt “I should” volunteer although I was momentarily paralyzed by fear from having absolutely no idea how to pray over people and being TERRIFIED of praying out loud especially since I’m branded by spiritual ignorance when it comes to all things faith related ~ this is seriously a fly by the seat of your uneducated pants kind of ride for me. From the tiniest step to the hugest leap I have not the slightest idea how it’s mapped out in the Bible and what is the “right” way to do things. Talk about blind faith in God ~ I’m totally dependent upon him for every step I take! So here was this energy coursing through my veins again just like the day at church where I thought my legs might run away without me and just as I was about to sheepishly volunteer my horrible novice prayer services Evelyn jumped up and sounded excited for the opportunity. Whew, dodged a bullet! I was a bit relieved I wouldn’t have to torture everyone on our team with a lengthy prayer consisting mostly of words fumbling off my thick tongue like the infamous “um, um…silence…um, um”. All through the 20+ minutes Evelyn led us in prayer for this girl I felt the same energy inside me, fluttering around like nervous butterflies and I was starting to feel bummed that I didn’t jump at the chance to pray for this girl because I couldn’t get over the idea that I just wanted to physically touch this girl in some way. I felt the energy would subside if I could just touch this girl. So when we were finished praying I went up to her and gave her an “extended” hug so I could touch her and I said some silly silent prayer like “God, for whatever reason you needed me to touch her, here I am, you do your thing, heal her, touch her, move her, connect with her, make your presence known I have no clue why I ‘had’ to touch her but that much I did understand from you, Lord.” and I mumbled a little Amen and went on my way…to the bus. And I was right the energy subsided and was gone after I exited the coffee hut.
So we jumped on the bus and there was a little excited chaos about to break out from a few freebies that were being shared with people. I think Chris gave the shirt off his back because we didn’t bring much to give away. Simon gave some kids a new soccer ball and they were off like a flash of lightening giggling with delight. We finally managed to get the doors closed, everyone from our team inside the bus and we took off ~ destined for Addis.
I quickly realized we had an extra passenger. It was a local lady and I had no idea how or why she was on the bus with us but no one seemed alarmed and acted as if she belonged with us. Before I could ask any questions, Amanda quickly announced she wanted us all to pray over this woman, so we asked permission to pray for her and she accepted.
IMMEDIATELY this flood of energy came rushing back very, very intensely!! I knew I had to touch this woman…so I made my way from the back of the bus excusing myself with the statement “sorry, I have to touch this lady” and the moment my hand connected with her shoulder a tingling sensation that was so intense it was slightly painful in that “sleeping arm” kind of way multiplied by 100 kilowatts(which is my lame attempt at sharing the approximate level of intensity for you all to “feel” with me here). Falguni was leading prayer over this woman and I quickly placed my other hand on this woman's shoulder because the tingling in my free hand was hurting and it felt ‘lighter’ when I was touching her. Then out of the blue, I began weeping, sobbing, from a deep place that I’ve never consciously known because I have never sobbed in this LOUD manner before (besides the day at church where I encountered the Holy Spirit). This was not my nature to be wailing so deeply and so loudly, amongst a crowd no less, but there was no controlling it. In all actuality I was kind of experiencing this moment from the outside looking in. I remember thinking “I must appear ridiculous” and imagined looking at myself in disbelief at the extent of my sobbing. Amanda then asked me if I was receiving something and I mumbled “I think so” (another defining moment of my ignorance!! I could barely stand on my own feet from this energy rushing through me and my answer was I THINK SO?!) So they let me begin to pray over the woman and I can’t remember what I prayed as I mentioned above it was almost as though I was looking in from the outside. I remember my voice started to grow louder as my prayer went on and right before I hit “southern Baptist preacher” mode the woman broke off the prayer. She was becoming uncomfortable and asked us to stop. So I quickly stopped although I didn’t want to at all, I had to convince myself to stop touching the woman I never wanted to let go ~ it was surreal and beautiful and all so new to me.
When I began to gain presence in my mind I immediately felt a little “embarrassed”. This was only day 2 of our trip and my team mates didn’t really know me all that well and here I was sobbing like a fruit loop openly in front of everyone beyond control. Plus, I know what I look like after I cry so I was oh-so excited to be sporting that red-faced, puffy-eyed glamorous look for the next 30 minutes. Add that to my bad missionary haircut and you are guaranteed a sight for sore eyes ~ literally eyes would be watering from pain at the sight of my face! (ha ha) So I went back to my seat IN THE BACK OF THE BUS to try to dull the sensations pulsating through my veins like wild fire and calm myself down, maybe gather my thoughts somewhere in there because whatever just happened to my body was INTENSE and I had no idea what to think! I'm fairly certain I had been asking for this but man alive this was some powerful stuff, it made me weak in the knees and light headed yet I was invigorated and felt weightless, floating in the cloud singing praise to Jesus. Careful what you pray for you just might get an answer your little body and small mind can barely handle! I needed some time to digest what had just occurred. Plus I didn’t want to look at anyone until the eye swelling subsided and the blotchy red skin disappeared. I just remember thinking “oh no, Donny is going to be frightened half to death so I asked him about a hundred times if he was okay.” I remember apologizing in there somewhere too telling him I had no idea what was happening to me, but secretly I *knew* this is what I had been praying for all along, a moment in my little life where I could have the opportunity to be a physical part of glorifying our God. After all I had spent many hours, nights and weeks feverishly praying to be used for the good of our Lord.
Within moments of reflecting upon this experience, I knew this would be a memory near & dear to my heart once I could consume what took place and I knew it would become a pivotal piece of my ever growing walk with Jesus so I did have the presence of mind to get a picture of the lady who shaped my life in an undeniable way. Yet another picture that is priceless in value to my heart for God's love for this precious lamb is sooo deep it affected me physically beyond my comprehension. For a moment I had the pleasure to share in God's love as He showered it over this beautiful lady and it was the most intense minutes I had ever experienced. A blessing I'm deeply humbled by just having an opportunity to be present in the moment.
So we continued on with the bus ride into Addis and in no time another opportunity would arise….stay tuned...
to be continued….
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