T160

Wow! The Lord is blowing my mind bringing people I know here to see and be a part of what our mighty God is doing in South Africa. I have always thought about it but didn’t know if it would actually happen. I love it. A special thank you to everyone who helped send the group from Five Points Baptist and Mamma Kay and Brodrick from Northport Church of God. What a blessing it was to have Mamma Kay and Brodrick here this week. I was so thankful for being able to share with them what God was doing here and be a part of what he was also doing in them as well. I must say that the Lord poured out joy and laughter and I was more than happy to receive it in the name of Jesus. The love and hugs from back home were awesome and I sent many back to you! You must know that all is well and the Lord continues to move in this place. The second Brook Hills team was here as well and was originally supposed to do Hospice care for the dying patients in the communities we minister in. I love that the Lord changes every plan that is not exactly what He wants. Everything they had planned and prepared for that week was turned upside down and redirected by the hand of God. He had bigger and better plans that we could not see in the beginning but looking back it is phenomenal to see how it all turned out so perfectly. We split up into groups and were blessed to work with the Home Base Care group from Refilwe. They are locals who live in the very communities we minister in. They speak the language and can relate in ways we could never imagine. We were able to pour into them and lead them more and more to the cross. We spent the week in six communities and two of them were where we held the clinics the previous week. We spent time with the sick, encouraged them and poured prayer for healing over them. We assessed needs and made sure they had been taking the medicine they were given. We also checked on a few patients who were taken by ambulance and who were bad off during the clinic. We did find out that one of the young girls who was deathly sick from the previous week had passed away. She had a case of chicken pox and could not fight it off and it killed her. She was 22 years old and cousin to one of our translators. We pushed through the week with the strength of the Lord. I named this blog T160 because we had a list of people we had to check on and it had their house numbers on the list. One of the first one’s was houseT160. We prayed before taking off for the day that the Lord would have his way and send us to the sick people and to those who needed prayer. The whole morning we were searching for this house. We asked around and no one really knew but they pointed us in the direction they thought it was in. As we were asking we found out that people were being hidden and were sick. It is cultural to do this with the sick in the communities and we were led to these people in need of a touch from Jesus. We prayed for several people and then were back on task of finding T160. The Lord continued to place the sick in front of us, so we pressed on with prayer….only wanting what God had in store. We ran into a lady who showed us to 5 sick people. She was an angel to us that day and had no idea. I want to share a few stories with you about what we saw and how God is bigger than the enemy could even come close to. We had bags of candy and stickers with us to give the little cherubs and we passed this house where 3 or 4 kids were outside with a young momma. I walked up to only give them candy but started talking to this woman. I noticed one of the children had something wrong with her eyes. She was about 2 years old but looked like she had cataracts and was completely blind. I ask about her condition and the woman told me that she had an eye disease and that she could see very little. The babies name is Thepang and when I hugged her and kissed her little dirty face, I was overwhelmed with love for her. Shana and I laid hands on her eyes and embraced her little body as we prayed for her. She only stood there and received. Some of the little children here will cry or run when they see us because of fear or just not at all used to seeing us. She was the complete opposite. I went back another day to check on her and I claim the healing is coming. In my spirit I believe even with no healing, it will be used to bring glory and honor to our Abba. I pray the Lord raises this young baby girl up as a mighty woman of God. She is special. I believe she will be set apart.
We also met Unis and Minis. He was in a car accident and has lost use of his legs. We saw him at the clinic but wanted to check and see if he was doing his leg exercises and taking his medicine. His wife has stuck close to him even in this trial. She now works and is also the main caregiver for her husband. As we began praying for him, the Lord wanted to minister directly to her that day. He wanted her to know that she was loved and it was okay for her to rest. She is weary and the Lord needed to fill her up that day. What a beautiful Jesus we serve. They asked for a bible because people with evil spirits were coming to stand at their window and casting spells over them and the house. We think we have it bad some days and we have no idea. She asked for a sword of the spirit to fight off the enemy. No better way than with prayer and the truth in the word. I told her to continue speaking the name of Jesus and the enemy would flee from their presence.
Sara was another lady we met who was very sick and could not breathe. Her lungs were weak and each breath was heavy and exhausting. She told us that she was lying in her bed the day before we came to see her and she felt as though she was going to die. She said she could not catch her breath at all and she thought that was it for her. She tells the story like this…”I rolled over in my bed and grabbed my medicine and I just said glory to the Lord.” She said that instantly she could breathe and when we saw her, she was sitting outside and was feeling much better. Her testimony is amazing because it speaks volumes about the name of our Lord being spoken out. There is power in HIS name, healing in HIS name and freedom and restoration in HIS name. There is no other name higher or more powerful than the name of Jesus. We also prayed with a man who was skin and bones and bed ridden. He was feeling pain in his ribs and chest and wasn’t able to get out of bed. We just simply prayed a prayer of healing, encouraged him and we were on our way. Two days later his wife saw us and as she walked by she told us that he was better and out of the bed and he wanted to see us. When we went to see him at his house, praise the Lord he was not there because he was so well that he was not even at home. He was well and we all shouted “Hallelujah”. Another man we met was Thomas. He had heart failure and his lungs were filling up and his belly was swollen from the fluid. He had open sores on his legs and his feet were very swollen as well. The spirit of the Lord was heavy as we prayed for him. Two ladies with us washed his feet and wounds as we prayed healing over him. We honestly were thinking he wouldn’t be there when we went back on Friday because he was in bad shape. Once more the Lord showed us that he speaks life when the enemy speaks death. God continues to remind us that HE is in control and way bigger than we give him credit for sometimes. Thomas WAS there on Friday and was feeling and looking better. His wounds were starting to heal and his swollen ankles were going down. He was a precious man that allowed us to serve him and attempt to love him like Jesus. I could go on and on but I know the Lord is being glorified by all of the stories above. He is a mighty God and I am thankful to the depth of my heart for being trusted with this opportunity to serve.
I pray we all continue to yearn for HIM and burn with passion to be in His presence. He is calling some of you to a deeper place of worship or a different place all together. He is with you and will never leave you but you have to step out on faith. Without faith in HIM and HIS love we have absolutely nothing. For now, the Lord is calling Steve, Teresa and I to a time of physical and spiritual rest. Pray for us as we enter into this time with the Lord. I know it will be so anointed and filling but I am personally praying against distractions. I just want to enter into the throne room like never before and sit at His feet and soak up that goodness. I will also be praying in this time for the Lord to reveal what His plans are for Leigh Ann and me over the next four months. We are open to whatever and just want to be in His will. Please pray with us about this. I will keep you all informed and look forward to sharing with you all that is revealed! Blessings over you all!