Love Changes Everything

Today, as in many other days, I got to learn a lesson about the Lord’s love through two young boys. After session today, my color team was meeting together and when we were finished, one of the guys (Vedan) asked if we could pray over a little boy he was holding from the village named Enrique, who had come into base for lunch. Vedan had noticed that his hand was swollen and had taken him to our clinic. Here, because of the dirt and lack of simple treatments like bandaids, minor cuts can get infected and evolve into big lumps on the kids and can often be a source of getting made fun of. His hand was bandaged but still distorted, so we decided to pray for him just a little bit.

As we were praying, however, this precious little boy (whom only spoke his tribal language that we didn’t know) started shaking and tears started streaming from his face. My heart broke as I soon realized that he was struggling not with a broken hand but a broken heart. Vedan kept holding him, and we kept lovingly rubbing his back. About an hour later, a few of us were still sitting with Enrique (as he hadn’t stopped crying) and some older village kids had come over to watch him and maybe get ready to make fun of him again. But Enrique didn’t seem to care as in the past; he knew the kids couldn’t touch him as long as he was in our arms, and we wouldn’t let him go.

I’m learning the same thing Enrique learned today in my time here…though enemies may be all around us (including sickness!), as we learn to stay in the Father’s arms, things don’t touch us like they’re supposed to. (Ps. 91:9-10!) Just like we were so protective of Enrique, the Lord Jesus is protective of His children and His bride. He is like Boaz who told Ruth, “Stay here!” Stay in my presence, for here I have charged the young men not to TOUCH you! (Ruth 2:8) He is as zealous for us as King Xerxes was for his Queen Esther: NO ONE better try to mess with the queen while the king is around! “Will [Haman] even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face…Hang him” (Esther 7:8, 10) And as God told Abimelech, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, for SHE IS A MAN’S WIFE” (Gen. 20:3), so are we JESUS’ BRIDE and no one may assault us as we stay in His Presence.

As the children that live here learn to embrace this reality, they are filled with confidence to go out and preach the good news in some of the darkest of places, knowing that they are in the Father’s arms, and they cannot be touched. A few weekends ago, I went with some of the older girls and guys to put on a church service in a local village. As we took communion before we went to claim the blood over our bodies and hearts, the girls explained to me that village had tried to poison some of them by giving them something to drink, but when they drank it, it didn’t work. (see Mk. 16:18 – yeah, it happens all the time here). Currently, the city is going through a major cholera outbreak, but we still go out into the villages and sick kids and their germs are all over us, but no sickness comes back to our base. Jesus is GOOD!

There’s one more part of the story, however! While we were with Enrique, I saw my friend Edwardo (12, one of my favorite village kids, speaks some English) and invited him over to us. Edwardo has a very cheeky personality and is always messing with me, but when he came over and saw Enrique’s tears, he got silent and realized it was a serious moment. I told Edwardo (in as best Portuguese that I could muster) that we were praying for Enrique’s hand, and I asked him to place his hand on Enrique’s and pray with us. I told him that the “Biblia Sagrada” says that the one in us is greater than the one that is in the world and when we place our hands on the sick, they will get better. Although I was a little nervous as to whether or not Edwardo understood me or would even pray, I started to pray and then squeezed his hand and he finished. Of course I have no idea what Edwardo prayed, but I know it was heartfelt – he was speaking with a tone I had never heard before.

Edwardo is often hanging around the base and at church services (often looking for things to steal), but after we prayed, I felt like I needed to ask him if he knew that Jesus was in His heart….if he had prayed to ask Him to be in His heart. He said no and I asked him if we could pray for that for him. We all prayed over Edwardo and then encouraged him to keep praying to Jesus on his own. “You are a SON Edwardo! God doesn’t just love you, he LIKES you,” we said, “and God is not embarrassed of you.” Later that day as I was walking back to our compound, I saw Edwardo ahead of me with a notebook. My first thought was ,“Oh gosh, here we go again, someone left their prayer journal in the tent and Edwardo took it and I have to get it back from him before he sells it.” But I felt like the Lord was telling me just to wait and watch. As I watched from afar, I saw Edwardo talking to one of the guards outside of our compound (where we live) and then walk away without the notebook. I went inside the compound and found one of my peers standing outside his house with the notebook. “How did you get that?!” I asked frantically. He said that one of the kids had picked it up and given it to the guards to give to him. “Cool,” he said, and walked off.

My heart was THRILLED with joy! Maybe it’s the same kind of pride Jesus feels when we make a decision that makes him happy! One thing is for sure: we can’t be touched by the love of God – the kind that made tears stream down Enrique’s face and made Edwardo return a notebook - and NOT be changed.