Wow! I am forever changed and have left a little piece of my heart in Guatamala with the amazing people that I met there. I knew the trip would be great but I could not have foreseen just what wonders Papa had in store for me and the team. I was and continue to be blown away by how well he works all things together for my good, especially in the truly unexpected ways he does it, like bringing me to Guatamala to bring me healing as I watch my team minister to prostitutes but more of that later.
Before I tell you more about what God did in me I want to tell you about some of the things he did through our team. 19 of us went from BSSM, including 2 leaders and they really were all amazing. We were family and we loved and cared for one another well. We also had wonderful Guatamalans working with us and they became like family too. We were so blessed, we had amazing accommodation, translators and 2 great families who worked with us. It was great to pour into the Guatamalans we worked with and see them grow and be encouraged too.
The first day we got to go to the bus terminal where there is lots of poverty, including lots of kids. Some of the team went to spend time with the kids and youth and some of us went around the streets seeing who God wanted to heal. One of our teams saw a deaf ladies ear open as she began to hear again. Thank you Jesus! My team prayed for an old man with back and neck pain and the pain went away completely and he had a wonderful smile on his face. Thank you Jesus! We also got to pray and prophesy over 2 sisters and see Jesus touch them as they received fresh hope into their lives. There were many other encounters too, the people were so open to God and he did not disappoint them.
The next day we went to a hospice to pray for the 5 children who were there. The team spent time with the children, parents and staff while I went, with another couple of team members, to intercede in the chapel. After we had been praying for a while one of the guys mentioned that there was no life in the garden, that is there were no birds. We realised that we had not seen a single bird since we arrived so we began to prophesy life into the garden. A few minutes later a bird came into the garden and stayed! We took this as a prophetic sign that life was coming into that place and so declared this. We then praised God for all he was doing. When we left, the chapel felt very different, the atmosphere had changed and there was hope there.
In the afternoon we went to a park and saw several salvations and a couple of people rededicating their lives to Jesus. Marina was the lady I talked with, I saw her as we were worshipping, she stood as if mesmerised with tears running down her cheeks. As we chatted with her she shared that she had served God once but had been hurt by the church and now she was a prostitute and the church did not want her. We told her Jesus lived her very much and he had not forsaken her but the hurt from the church was in the way. After I shared a little of my testimony she said we could pray for Jesus to soften her heart. He did and she said she wanted to invite Jesus back into her heart. Thank you Jesus for your love and compassion. She looked so different and though she had no other means to support her family but prostitution we prayed that God would bring another means and I believe he will. My translator invited the lady to her church. After we had finished Marina told us she was going to cook for God and then asked if our team would sing for her which we did.
Saturday was the next day and we went to a Verbo church in Palin, some of our guys did some teaching there and some of us went out on the streets. I went out with a group and we had an amazing time. Two encounters stick out. The first was with an old man called Francesca, when we saw him he was sat with his head in his hands and looked very down. He could not speak, not even a whisper but he said we could pray for him. After we prayed for him a couple of times he was able to speak and he explained he had not been able to speak for 15 days. He then told us that he knew Jesus had sent us but he did not know Jesus. He said he wanted to do so he invited Jesus into his life. Praise Jesus! When we left he was sat with his head up and a big smile on his face. the second encounter was with a lady called Maria who had pain in her hands and knees. We encouraged our young translator to pray for her and her pain completely left. This was exciting because it showed our translator that God wanted to use her for healing. Thank you Jesus!
In the afternoon at the church we gave out some words of knowledge and I prayed for the pastor with another couple of people who had pain in his left knee. We prayed and his pain level went from an 8 to a 5. As we prayed a second time I started to laugh, I had my hand on his knee but I could not pray, I just laughed. After a few minutes, I was still laughing, we asked him to check out his knee and it was fully healed! Thank you Jesus! Laughter truly is the best medicine!
We were back at the church on the Sunday morning and some of the team taught the children about healing and we had them come in and take part in the ministry time. One group of boys saw a man who was blind in one eye receive his sight back. Praise Jesus! There were lots of healings that morning and all of them involved the children. Wow! There truly is no junior Holy Spirit!
The next day, as we were worshipping before going out to an area where there were prostitutes, I felt overwhelmed and my heart hurt. I did not really know what it was but thought Papa was breaking my heart afresh as this is a continuous prayer of mine. I let the leaders know how I was feeling and off we went. When we got to the area I joined the guys who were worshipping in the middle of the street but I was definitely struggling, though I still could not tell you why. As we were worshipping I was watching our teams go up and down the street and loving on the women there. They were amazing, in the middle of the pain and the mess in that place, they just loved those ladies so well. Suddenly something clicked in my heart and I began to worship, I did not know what Papa had done but I knew he had done something.
After we got home I went and spent some time with Papa to talk about what he had done, I was blown away by what he revealed. He showed me that there was a part of my story that I was still ashamed of, a part of me that I felt was unloveable! Wow! I believed I had no shame but he showed me this was just not true, I just kept this part pushed down so I did not have to think about it. The issue was that many years previously I had prostituted myself so that I could make money for drugs. I had not gone out on the streets but I had someone I would ring or who would ring me and then they would come and pay me for sex. None of my friends at the time knew about this because prostitution was considered the lowest of the low and I would have been, or at least I believed I would have been, ostracised. As a result of carrying this shame I believed there was a part of me that was unloveable and that I could not reveal it to people.
For about 20 years I had carried this and had not felt free to share it much at all, it was not usually a part of my testimony because I feared rejection. I could not have told you this though as I had kept it hidden from me too! As I watched the amazing young people on our team loving on the girls on the street, Papa showed me that I was loveable to the core and that nothing could change that. For the first time I believed I could truly share and be loved. Wow! I was a blubbering mess! That night I shared this testimony with the team, explaining that their love of the girls had hit my heart and changed how I viewed myself. It truly was the hardest testimony I have ever given. When I was done though the whole team just surrounded me, loved me and prayed for me and my heart was fully healed. Thank you team! Thank you Jesus!
The next morning I woke up knowing I needed to break the agreement with shame and deal with the lie that I was unloveable. I found one of our amazing team members and just prayed through these things and they just stood in agreement with me. Halelujah! I knew what Papa had done had been sealed in my heart and that I was free indeed! Thank you Papa!
Wow! We were not even half way through our trip and Papa had brought me great freedom in something I had no idea I needed freedom in. How awesome is that! There is much more to tell but part 2 will come soon. I hope you have been blessed and that you know there is nothing that you have done that makes any part of you unloveable. Papa says you are worth it, that you are loved by his perfect love and that nothing can separate you from that love. Amazing! We are blessed indeed!
