I noticed something about my short-term trip. Basically, we planted seeds, loved kids, ran pieces of the church service, but didn’t reap the harvest or see the fruit.
I wish that I could tell you that I saw people healed or come to Christ, that I saw demons cast out or bodies raised from the dead. The truth is: I didn’t see any of that, but I still saw God. He didn’t show up in the ways I expected, but I knew He was there with us.
I would pray in the mornings, “God, show me something big today. Use me to heal people. Let me see people come to You.” To this, He responded, “Not today.” I believe that He wanted my faith to grow.
The first day I was gone on the trip, I read a letter from one of my friends. It said, “If you ever feel inadequate, just read Hebrews 11.” This is what people call the Hall of Faith. (And if you haven’t read this passage before, please stop and read it, otherwise the rest of this won’t make sense.) God definitely was speaking to that friend on my behalf, because it was something I held onto all trip.
Verse 13: “All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it…”
These people had faith, despite the fact that they weren’t seeing what God had promised.
Verse 27: “It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on goingbecause he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.”
What if I stopped praying to see physical things, and started praying to see the unseen – people’s hearts, the enemy’s plans, how God is doing miracles where I can’t see them. Lord, give me spiritual eyes to see the unseen.
At this point, I could tell you one example of what I did see in the Dominican.
One of the first days with the kids, we witnessed the boys being incredibly aggressive with each other and with the girls. For the next few days, we prayed and prayed for this to stop. We began to see the boys being less aggressive and start acting like kids! Praise God that there was change there!
I saw so many other things too and God is still revealing them to me. “Look where I was in this situation,” He reminds me. He also tells me that even thought I’m not there, He still is. He’s still working in their lives, doing things I can’t see.
Now, all I can do is pray.
I pray in faith with the confidence that what I hope for will actually happen.
Here are some pictures of the kids I pray for in faith. I ask that you pray for them as well – not only the ones you see here, but also the ones you don’t see.
