While in Nicaragua, I was invited to share the Gospel for 15 minutes at a school in the city of Santo Tomas to students between the grades of 8th & 12th grade. As I walked on to the campus, the Lord began to give me the message of how God is a good Father, demonstrated by Jesus, and that if we’ve seen Jesus, then we’ve seen the Father. I felt a longing in my heart for these students to see God as a faithful Father who would always love them and never abandon them. I was introduced to the group of 80 students or so and began to share with them the love of our Father.
As I was speaking, I looked over and saw a young girl listening intently. I could see faith rising up in her. The Lord gave me a word for her, and I spoke a word of His great love as a Father over her, and as I spoke the word, she began to cry, tears streamed down her face.
We finished our time together, and my brother in Christ, Denis (who was my interpreter), and I, sat down at the front of the room on a bench. We were talking with some of the students that came up, encouraging them and praying over them. When the room had almost cleared out, the young girl who I had spoken over came up to us, and she walked with a heavy limp.
As she told me that she was so moved by the message of God’s love, I began to speak healing over her legs. She stopped and asked if I would pray for her, if I would ask for God to heal her. Denis and I gathered around her as she sat down on the bench, and we began to not only pray, but also to command her to be healed. After a few minutes of this…nothing happened. I have seen some amazing things happen in my life, and I had no doubt that God wanted to heal her, and that He had in fact already made a way for her healing. Seeing no healing come to fruition over the next few minutes, we prayed over her and hugged her. When she hugged me, she kept holding on, even burying her head in my chest. When she let go, I told her that the next time I see her, I will be looking for her to be walking in health, and I encouraged her in the Lord.
I was devastated, crushed in my heart, as I longed to see this young girl walk upright. She had suffered a tumor in her leg when she was young, and some of it had leaked out and prevented her feet from properly forming, so she had no movement in her ankles.
As she began to limp away, she stopped and turned around and just stared at us for a moment. She began to cry, and with tears gushing down her face she looked at me and handed me a bracelet that she had been wearing. She told me that she wanted me to have it so I would remember her. She then told me, “If I ever see you again, I will remember you, because you have given me something I have never had…the love of a father. I’ve never been in the arms of my Father, but you have shown me what it is to be in the arms of a father, you’re like a father to me.”
We all began to cry, as I was struck to the core of all that I am. I stood amazed in the presence of God, shaking at the power of God that would show this girl His amazing love in just a matter of minutes. I must confess to you, I was even more heartbroken that she was not healed. I believe it God’s will for her to be healed, and to this day, I don’t totally understand why not. People will give me all sorts of reasons, some theological dissertations and some just in an effort to console me, but I tell you, after the many amazing things I’ve seen, I’m more shocked when healing is not manifest than when it is. I have no need to be consoled, this little girl has a need to walk!
I later found out that this young girl is often made fun of by the other students, and is often left out. I pray that Mari is walking in health today, but even if not, I know that she is walking in the awareness of a heavenly Father who loves her deeply as He demonstrated His love for her by sending Jesus, showing us what a great Father He truly is. Mari knows the love of our Father, and my prayer is that as she has seen the love of her Father, that she is able to trust Him, placing her faith in Jesus!
