Modern Day Miracles

We went to do home visits in the morning to listen to the stories of the families that suffered from the typhoon to learn about their lives, to take a needs assessment to see what aid we could provide, and to offer prayer for any requests and petitions they had. My team split up into two groups with Brook, Jake, Margie, and Pastor Ray in one group and with John, Emily, Pastor Jun and me in the other group.
One of the homes that Brook's group visited was the home of Linda, Ann, and Mercy. After they spent some time talking, Linda and Ann shared their prayer needs including good health and financial provisions. This was very common in the families we visited because they were malnourished and had no medical care at all. Moreover, many of them were unable to find jobs. Mercy, however, said that her one request was to get into heaven. What? Of the many things she could've asked for, she wanted to know the certainty of her eternity. That team explained to her that it's never about doing things to be "good" enough to get into heaven, but that her faith and trust in Jesus would be the key to the present and eternal freedom of her spirit. She invited Jesus into her life.*

My team was going around different homes for visitations when a woman named Ana, who we had never met before, pops out of her house and tells us to come in. We see a man of at least 40 years old lying on the floor curled up next to the door. Ana explained to Pastor Jun that he was her brother, Fernando. Fernando has been having stomach pains for the past twelve days. He has been in so much pain that he hasn't been able to go to work, which was also a huge problem since he was the bread winner between the two siblings that lived together. He could not walk and could hardly move. We asked him to put his hand on his stomach and we laid hands on top of that hand and prayed for his healing in Jesus name. We didn't know if anything happened to him or to anyone else we had prayed for that day. The next day, I was leading a study of Ruth with the women in the community and Ana, Fernando's sister, declared that her brother was fully healed. She asked for the group to pray that her brother would know Jesus. The very next day after that as my group was leaving for lunch from the home visits, Fernando ran into my team as he was walking to town and tells us that not only is he healed, but that he has invited Jesus into his life.

I never know where God is going to take me or my team next. I can never predict what He is going to do. I just know that his heart is always in pursuit of our hearts and our freedom.

Written By: Christine Louie

A version of this article appeared on March 4, 2010, at www.christinelouie.theworldrace.org.