Miracles in the Market

I know that we are at the end of our trip sadly but I just wanted to share one more incredible day with all of you.

Wow! God is so good all the time and all the time God is so good! We arrived to the school on July 6th – which is were we have been teaching English to all of the classrooms and most importantly loving those children just as God loves us. Raina and I had a third grade class for about thirty to forty minutes in the morning, and then went out on activation. My team went to a super crammed market by the school to find the people that God wanted to encounter. As we were walking I was wondering how the Lord was ever going to use us in that place.

Suddenly, our leader Marielle stops at a watermelon booth to talk to the two women who were selling them. We had a small conversation with them and then prayed for their health, family, business and their relationship with God. Then we turned to the right to a more open, outdoor marketplace. As I was leading the team line, God totally laid an opportunity before us. My eyes caught attention to a woman and her daughter who were selling tomatoes on the floor. We approached them and told them that out of all the people in that busy market, God led us to them particularly. We then asked if they needed prayer for anything, and the mother responded pretty quickly with a request for her family because they were going through a rough time this past year. One man died for a reason they do not know of, and a ton of people have had sicknesses (in fact, they said that they have had just about all of the illnesses you could think of).

Right when we were going to pray, one of the watermelon women came and found us with another lady who needed prayer. So we prayed for the mother and daughter first and after I could completely see that the Lord moved in them and through them. In the beginning of the conversation, they were closed off (looking down, eyes closed, not talking) but in the end, it was like they had a whole new perspective (chin up, open eyes, talking, crying, smiling). I looked around and saw a ton of people staring at us and wondering what we were doing and I thought to myself that we were being noticed as different because Jesus Christ lives inside of us, and He uses us to do some crazy, unexpected things.

Then we began speaking the other lady and found out that she was bleeding out a lot, experiencing a lot of pain, and was going to get surgery soon. We all prayed for healing and peace to be with her and immediately she became overflowing with joy. She had an enormous smile on her face and could barely speak.

We moved on with Chase leading us to two older women sitting. They spoke some other dialect in the language so we were not able to understand them entirely. My team and I circled around them and prayed for their family and salvation. Still within the outdoor market, Julia led us to a family who was selling tamales. They said they were doing great but health is always a need so we prayed for them and continued. Gemma led us back inside the market and led us to a woman and a seven to eight year old girl sitting in a basket. I was drawn to the daughter so I went around to go sit by her. We introduced ourselves and got their names. We discovered that the little girl has no been able to walk since birth because she never had enough strength within her legs.

At once we all laid our hands on her and prayed. Personally, I laid my hands on her legs. In the morning, I was reading Matthew 9 where Jesus healed the paralytic man. People brought Jesus to the broken man and in the same way, we should too. Jesus said to the paralytic rise, pick up the bed and go home. I was reminded of that story the entire time. As we were all praying, I could feel the girl’s legs twitching and moving more and more. It was the Lord pumping strength into her. We said amen. then she wanted to get up so Marielle and I helped her get out the basket but the girl did most of the work. Marielle continued supporting her while the girl walked step by step. Walking the distance, she was so happy and excited. It was so incredible. And the Lord no doubt showed who He is and His undeniable power! We helped her sit back down and continued talking to them. We also sensed that she needed to be loved so we all hugged her and just truly loved on her. I offered her a bracelet. At first she rejected it and looked away but then she stuck out her left arm and smiled beautifully. While I tied it on her, i prayed that she would remember what the Heavenly Father did because of His great love for her. We also told them that they are like jewels because they are extremely valuable.

When it was time to leave Avery led us to a sewing machine place with men and a few girls inside. We prayed for their business and provision. We had to head back to the school so we left pretty quickly. Back into the market, I look over and saw the girl who was paralyzed, standing up on her feet and walking slowly over to her mother.

God is so good! The whole day I literally could not stop smiling and thanking the Lord for all what He has down in one hour and all what He has planned to come. We stopped at a booth with chickens but then the man said that he was too busy and we went to another woman who said everything was perfect. We went forward and prayed for both of them anyways.