Such a great evening at our weather amnesty shelter last night. For those new to my blog, part of our family life includes coordinating a winter weather amnesty shelter for homeless men. For my first night of the season, I brought my famous (boxed) brownies and met old friends again. We heard a great devotion from a volunteer who really prayed and listened to what God wanted to say to these men and heard confirmation that she was right on in their responses! She’d overcome addiction herself. Many here struggle with that. Yeah God! I love those moments.
Also had a man come see us who Steve prayed for the night before. Steve was busy with another man and told him to come look for me. He wanted to share what God has done for him. He took off his glasses and pointed to his eye. He said he had a tumor in there and, before, he couldn’t look at the light without severe pain, so he wore very dark glasses. He took off his glasses and looked right into it and said, “This is so freaky! I am so freaked out!” I have no pain. Then he showed me his leg. He had deep vein thrombosis previously. He pulled up his pant legs as all the guys were sitting there to show them what God has done. The swelling was gone and the two legs were the same size. The cracks in the skin were healing. He was just praising God and in shock. Others were watching and one man just held his hands up in awe and wonder. He showed me his arm and said it had been broken in 7 places by a K9; there were plates in it and it had a big swollen lumpy area above the wrist. I said, “Let’s pray for that too!” “Alright!” he said and stuck it out and closed his eyes. I closed my eyes too and started telling the bones to heal. He stopped me to say “Look! Wait. look!” I opened my eyes and looked at his arm and the lump was gone. He went on to thoroughly point out what was different. The skin was loose and some lump was gone leaving an indentation. The scaring was all in different places and loosed up. We were so excited! Jesus is alive we agreed!
He sat down for the devotion, hardly containing himself, continually checking out his arm and leg. Nearby, another man was watching who went to find Steve. He asked for prayer and confessed his need for Christ. God is so good! I love my job as Christ follower. At The Vineyard Church last week we heard about the 10 lepers and the one who said thanks. There weren’t 10 this time, but is always so rewarding when one returns to celebrate how wonderful God is, but even more awesome to see God say – YES! Let me show you what else I can do when you’re thankful! I remember Mark wondering what Jesus was thinking. I wondered too. Tonight I think I got a picture of what he was thinking – “Let me reward you with more for your thankfulness!” May he continue to wholeness in every way.
