On the last day of the 2006 outreach in Trujillo, the mother of one of the Peruvian volunteers came to our team for a walker. Elderly and disabled from the affects of diabetes, Irma received the gift of mobility. Then, she prayed with us, asking the Lord Jesus Christ to fill her heart with His Spirit. I will never forget the privilege and joy of sharing that moment!
Even as I have savored the surprise God had for us, I have prayed for Irma throughout the year; I have prayed that she would grow in her love for Jesus Christ and in her love for God’s Word. When the door opened for me to return to Trujillo, I hoped I would see her again.
It was, therefore, with great joy and thanksgiving that I greeted Irma on Thursday- exactly one year from our first meeting. She had come to receive a wheelchair. Although she is on dialysis and losing her sight, her joy shone brightly. I knelt beside her. “I have prayed all year that you would return”, she told me through an interpreter. “I wanted to see you again.”
“And I have prayed for you, Irma”, I replied. “I have prayed that you would grow in your love for Jesus Christ and in your love for God’s Word.” I paused for a moment and smiled. “Well, I have returned”, I said.
Irma’s daughter had joined our reunion and was standing behind me. She replied, “And my mother has opened her home for people to gather for prayer and to study God’s Word.” Tears of joy and thanksgiving welled up in our eyes as we realized that Almighty God had been at work, even as we had prayed.
I do not understand how prayer works; I do not understand how prayers become as a beautiful aroma to our God, nor how the pleadings of our hearts presented before the throne of the King of Kings fit into His sovereign plan. But I do understand that God works though prayer, transforming the hearts and minds of His people.
As Zenie fitted Irma for her wheelchair, the familiar words of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 came to mind:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all, while we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporal, but what is unseen is eternal.”
We encouraged each other with these words. Our conversation turned towards heaven, when one day there will be no need for interpreters or wheelchairs or partings. With this hope before us, we again joined together in prayer.
In faithfulness, may we continue to pray…
- Nancy
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