Now I did not know this until the first day in Trinidad, but I was sent there to pray for the sick and ask God for the impossible. Being bold wasn’t on my radar and definitely didn’t really excite me too much to be put to the test like that but it’s not like I had anywhere to go, I was 2,500 miles away from home! It’s funny how God works like that. First, He doesn’t tell me why He’s called me to Trinidad, but only that He did call me there. And second, He doesn’t even tell me until I get there! Now I’d love to say that if He had told me all of this before hand that I would have smirked and accepted the challenge head on, but the truth is I wouldn’t have. I believed and still believe in healing from Jesus. I have seen healing happen around me, but I had never dared to believe healing for a person right in front of me – let alone something that wasn’t just a tiny miracle! So, yes, I find myself in Trinidad called to do something I wasn’t ready for (or so I thought).
We were in Mayaro starting our services at Praise Sanctuary when I realized that I was about to have to go to the front and start praying for people. Cindy was giving a message and it hit me that she was going to have an altar call and have me pray for people – whether I felt ready or not. As I sat there, I suddenly became flooded with a peace and courage in my soul that made me feel determined to do what I needed to do. Resolve had been birthed inside of me. Cindy finished her message and gestured for the prayer team to come up for the altar call. I stood there ready and firm as person after person came up. However, I had been standing at an angle where I found myself behind the rest of the prayer team. I didn’t do anything about it until I noticed a man waiting for prayer. Everyone else was taken for the moment and I was all that was left. The biggest thing about this was, not only was I in a position that was difficult for me to get to him, but he was blind in one eye! Nevertheless, I inched my way through everyone else to get to this man and pray over him. I asked for the healing provided millennia ago by Jesus to manifest itself in this man. After praying for several minutes through what seemed like words that could have not been my own, I took my hand off the of the man’s eye. I asked him if it was any better and he immediately mentioned that it was still blurry and tried to turn away. I stopped his attempt to leave and told him that I would like to pray again if that was alright with him. He consented to another prayer. So I put my hand over his eye and prayed again with words that did not seem like they were my own coming out of my own mouth. I stopped, took my hand off and asked him again if it had gotten any better. He said it did not but to my dismay, did not want any further prayer.
The service ended and we went back to our resort (more like a beach-like hotel, this isn’t the Atlantis Resort!). I was upset for a bit, talking with God as to why the man wasn’t healed after all the supernatural courage and boldness that had been given to me. After consulting with my Spiritual father over email, I let go of the subject as he told me the key was to not be disappointed and to keep going to the next person needing prayer.
Our services in Mayaro concluded a few days later. Having prayed with several people about emotional things and more general things, I now had a newfound confidence in praying for people. Definitely grew quite a bit, which later on we all came to the conclusion that God had called us to Mayaro to prepare us for Penal, Trinidad. Because, you see, that is where all of the stories really started to happen.
The first few days in Penal were us partnering with the Ramdial’s in doing crusades for several nights in a row. We built a huge tent on the property in which Pastor Ramdial was going to build a new building for his church. On the first night of the crusades, the message was given and it was time for altar call. I was full of excitement, hope, and boldness to stand up there and await for whatever task lie before me. A man came up and told me he had pain in his arm and he wanted prayer for it. I put my hand on the man’s arm and prayed again with words that did not seem like my own. After a few minutes of praying, I stopped and opened my eyes. The man started to walk away but I stopped him to ask about his arm and if it was better or not as I was prepared to keep praying until it was healed. God does not want us to be hindered by even the smallest of things. He then rolled his arm around like when people do when they are stretching and his eyes open wide and he looked at me smiling saying, “It doesn’t hurt anymore!” I smiled back and praised God as he walked back to his seat. I then looked out on the crowd and the same arm that had been hurting him previously was then raised in the air as he was praising the only God that heals.
Small yet significant that was. It may have been just pain in the arm, but it was healed and I was beyond excited. I know some people might try to argue themselves out of this being anything God would do. That it is all about the mind. But I don’t give any credit to anything except Him. Future stories will prove more of the impossible, I have no doubt.
Little did I know then that it was the beginning of my entire future as a missionary, that it was all starting then. Something that seemed so tiny was the blast off of my entire ministry in traveling to the nations. A tiny seed was planted that night through the man in the picture next to me. God is too good.