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Proven Faithfulness

Posted on Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Almost three weeks ago, my roommate and I had about an hour of extra time before we had to leave for house church, so we decided that we would spend our morning at the community center. We left our home with no intentions or preconceived plans, we were simply just going to sit and most likely study our Thai. And although we left with the simple expectation to just become more of a known presence in our community, we were about to catch a glimpse of our Father’s faithfulness to his people. So when we got to the community center, there was a woman there whom we came to learn was named P’Lamyai. With our speaking abilities being at bare minimum, we began asking her the few questions we knew how to speak in Thai. How are you? How long have you lived here? Do you have any kids? And with every response she gave to our questions, we simply had to reply, “I’m sorry, we don’t understand. We only speak a little Thai.” But like most people in our community, the level of patience our Thai neighbors possess is admirable, so P’Lamyai continued to sit and talk to these two foreigners she had just met. Eventually the hour passed by and Alejandro told her that we would be going to Wat Phi Chai, a community across the street that is centered around a Buddhist Temple. Before we could get up to start moving, she asked us why we were going to Wat Phi Chai. Well of course in that instance, both us forgot the Thai word for Church, so Ale uttered the words, “We’re going to thank God.” She then asked us if we knew the way, and we responded with what we believed to be that we did indeed know the way. But P’Lamyai stood up and insisted that she showed us the way. Upon our arrival to Wat Phi Chai, P’Lamyai looked very confused as to why were turning right and not continuing straight to head to the Temple. We calmed her confusion, or made it worse, by telling her that we were going to our friend’s house. We thanked her and continued walking towards P’Nim’s house. I turned around to look back at P’Lamyai and saw her struggling with something in her mind and then I saw her start following us. I thought to myself, well I guess she’s coming to church with us! When we arrived at P’Nim’s we were thankful that P’Nim would now be able to communicate with P’Lamyai and get more of her story. We all sat down after introductions and P’Lamyai started sharing about her life. She told us that she has been suffering from chronic migraines and suffers from blindness in her left eye. Upon hearing this, P’Nim randomly remembered that she owned a video of a Zimbabwe Pastor leading a healing revival in Thailand. She quickly grabbed it, popped it in, turned it up loud, and encouraged P’Lamyai to watch this film. The pastor began speaking about Jesus, very passionately and moving I might add. He spoke of the power of Christ and his ability to bring physical healing to our bodies. He proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God and that he is the only one that has ever conquered death. He also said that Jesus wants you to know you personally and that through that, that he wanted to bring healing to everyone at this arrival, and well I guess anyone who purchased the DVD recording. I watched P’Lamyai as she listened to this man. Occasionally she became distracted, but her eyes and mind always made it back to the screen. Eventually this pastor instructed everyone to place their hands on the sickness that existed in their body. So P’Lamyai placed one hand on her head and the other over her left eye. Not long after that, P’Nim told us to pray and to not stop. So I started praying. I’m going to be honest with you; I’ve never been in a situation where I was praying for God to bring physical healing for someone at that exact moment. But as I sat next to this woman, tears started to fall as I became absolutely confident that the Lord wanted to heal this woman. I prayed. Ale prayed. P’Nim prayed. Sprite prayed. And the video ended and I waited anxiously to hear from P’Lamyai. She began to share and it was in this moment that I tangibly saw the faithfulness of God to his people. She began by telling us that during this prayer, she physically felt the pain in her head leave her body. Amazing. She told us that almost every one of her siblings suffers from some form of ailment and that they have tried every trick in the book and nothing had ever worked, but then she followed two foreigners and would walk away being healed of her migraines. She shared that this was the very first time that she had ever heard about Jesus, his power, that he raised from the dead, and that he was the Son of God. The very first time, amazing. She also shared that it’s not in her nature to follow anyone, but in that moment that I saw her struggling with something in her mind, she was deciding on whether or not to follow us. She told us that the reason she decided to is because she remembered Ale saying that we were coming here to Thank God, and I guess in that moment the Spirit brought peace upon her. P’Lamyai stayed for church that day. She worshipped with her hands raised, she studied God’s word with us, and shared more of her life with us.  She left that day with a prayer guide focusing on physical healing, a New Testament, and with a desire to come back the following week. Next week arrived and P’Lamyai didn’t show. However, I didn’t lose hope. I knew in my heart that Jesus held her closely. P’Nim was able to follow up with her the following week and found out that her migraines had come back but left again that Sunday she didn’t come to church. P’Nim assured her that we prayed for her and that she believed that because we prayed, God was faithful to heal P’Lamyai. It’s an incredible story of God’s faithfulness to His people. And the amazing thing is this; P’Lamyai is sharing with her neighbors about what God has done in her life. She’s been reading her New Testament and continues to pray through the prayer guide. She hasn’t been coming to church because her husband won’t allow her to come. And although that is unfortunate, her desire to come remains and that is incredible. What became so clear to me throughout this entire story is that God doesn’t need me. It’s so easy to adopt this mindset that as an American Christian God needs us to go evangelize the world. But the truth is, is that God is working on every continent, in every nation, and daily is calling people His name. God allows us to participate in what He’s already doing and I praise God that he used my lack of language ability to lead someone to hear about Christ for the very first time.

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