Forgiveness, healing, and great joy

Andy, Darlene and I were walking along the dirt paths in Swaziland when we decided to stop at a woman’s hut.  She was sitting outside on a mat, and immediately stood up to invite us in her house as she saw us approaching.  We felt the Lord’s compassion stirring on the inside as we saw her limp in pain and her back hunched over.  As we followed her inside the dark house, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  At first I was unsure of what it was, but after looking again I realized it was another woman.  I quickly invited her in, believing the Lord wanted to touch this woman as well.

We began by asking the second woman if she knew Jesus, and she responded that she had.  However, she began to share with us many of the struggles that she had been experiencing.  This woman had been through a great deal of suffering, as her husband had left her and her son had been suffering from demonic influence.  Andy was able to minister prophetically to her, demonstrating the love of the Father for her and reaching deep into her heart.  She began to cry as the Lord began to reveal hidden areas of anger and unforgiveness, as well as the love and the grace that was available to her to overcome many of these struggles.  After a time of prayer, she was willing to pray and release her husband to the Lord.  As she surrendered her anger and unforgiveness, the Lord was able to come in like a flood and bring deep healing to her heart.  She began to experience peace that she had not felt in years, and explained that she had been crying out to the Lord for help during this difficult time.  She said she believed that our meeting had been from the Lord and that He was answering her cry for help.

As the Lord continued to minister to this woman, we turned to the woman who had been limping that invited us into her hut.  “Don’t worry,” we said, “We didn’t forget about you!”  This woman was a Christian, and was asking for prayer for her legs and her eyes.  Her legs had so much pain in them that she was unable to walk without pain, and even then was only able to limp around due to the pain.  It was difficult for her to see as well, as her vision had become extremely blurry.  We all gathered to pray for her legs and eyes and asked if she felt a difference.  At first we were unable to understand her, but then it became clear that only her left side had pain.  We continued to go after it in prayer and soon all the pain had left her body.  Her eyes were progressively getting better– Praise God!  We helped her as she began walking and testing our her newly healed legs.

As she felt the power of God move through her body, she began exclaiming, “I can’t believe it!  I can’t believe it!”  At first she was so amazed at her healing that she was afraid it would disappear as soon as we left.  However, we assured her that it was the power of God that had touched her, and nothing that we could have done in our strength.  Praise God for demonstrating His love and power to these women in a small hut in Africa!

-Jamie