Inside and Out

Inside and Out

On Tuesday night, the team’s last night in Guatemala we were visited by a couple that spoke to us during our time doing ministry in Antigua. We all expected it to be a good talk and a good time based on our previous experience with Gabe and Marielle. But I don’t think anyone expected what was in store for us.

We were told right before worship that Gabe was going to be talking about healing. We all were expecting God to move in a cool way, and that made the time of worship really unique.

Gabe has this way of speaking that is genuinely Spirit-led. It’s obvious that he is really intently listening to what God is telling him to say. Gabe started talking about a really bad stomach ache he got after visiting a town with a lot of demonic spiritual action. He told us that he was prayed over and for the first time he experienced first-hand the power of healing. One of his hosts explained that it was really common for people to pick up on some of the spiritual stuff in that area and to feel physically the effects of the spirits clinging onto them. This made me remember the first night of small groups in San Pedro when I had the worst stomach pain that I’ve ever had. But I prayed it away.

He asked if any of us had felt the same stomach thing, because San Pedro is full of demonic practices. Unfortunately,  over half of the team experienced something very powerful in their bowels. Anyway, Gabe, along with the handful of unaffected team members, prayed over us and our stomachs and we were able to see some really cool physical and spiritual healing in that.

I’ve been having problems with my lower back for a while now…somewhere between 6 and 8 months. Before the trip I wanted to see a chiropractor about it, but never found the time. During the trip it’s flared up and it got me thinking that I’d need to get it checked out before school starts, and I figured that I wouldn’t be able to run cross country my senior year. So, I brought that issue up to Gabe and the group…and he said he’d been experiencing back pain as well.

Then he did something he said he’d never done before…he opened up the space for the spiritual gift of healing to be given to anyone the Lord desired to give it to. We opened our hands, and anyone who felt moved came to pray over me and Gabe.

People began to start laying hands on my back and pretty soon every part of my back was covered except for the one specific area it was in pain. After the prayer they asked how I felt…and I did feel better, but honestly the pain was still there. Marielle told me to sit as straight as possible in my chair. She took my feet and told me that my heels weren’t aligned…meaning that my left leg was shorter than the right.

She began praying for God to extend the leg…to make them match up. My eyes were closed at this point because I was a little scared about what could happen in that moment. I briefly felt a warm tingly feeling in my leg as Marielle said, “There it is.” One of my teammates, Christy, also said that she saw an unnatural movement as my leg lengthened into alignment.

It was odd, however, because I felt the same warm tingle in my head at the same time as I felt it in my leg. I immediately thought that it could’ve been God cancelling out the pain from bone moving and changing…but that’s not what it was.

After the whole God working a miracle in my body thing, Marielle began praying a sealing prayer over the healing and I began to laugh uncontrollably. Tears of joy and amazement were streaming down my face…and I just couldn’t suppress the urge to laugh. It was undeniably the joy of the Lord radiating out of me.

The worship continued and changed into a time of celebration and adoration of our Savior and Great Physician. Marielle asked how I was feeling, and there was still a faint feeling of pain in my back, she prayed over that and began speaking into me things she was hearing from the Lord. She said I was made to dance (which, if you know me at all, is kinda ridiculous). She said that the Lord would move in me and make me move in a new way. My hips began to sway. She told me to relax and to let the Lord take over. As soon as I sunk into the dance my body began moving. It was scary at first, but I was dancing with the Father and I felt so close to Him in those moments. I felt Him tell me that I needed to keep dancing and that in that He would maintain the healing He had done in my back. And my back has never felt better.

When I feel any sensations of pain, I’ll dance it out and worship my God who has moved me inside and out.

I’ve been battling depression and anxiety since my 8th grade year, and it was severe enough at one point to put me in the hospital for a week. Long story short…I believe that the healing sensation I felt in my head was the Lord healing the mental illnesses along with my back. Because with healing in my DNA, why not heal everything? It explains the uncontrollable laughter and peace I felt overtake me in that moment.

I will worship Him because I am overflowing with joy and contentment. Because every step I take is a constant reminder of His incredible power and faithfulness.

I am still in awe of this new addition to my testimony. This was the final thing needed to teach me that expectations, while sometimes healthy (in the sense that they produced a delightful time of worship), can also hinder our lives and our relationship with God. But never stop expecting God to move in marvelous and mysterious ways. Because He is so much bigger than I ever imagined, so much more powerful than I ever dreamed, and so incredibly good to His children.