Today, they were in Villa Catalina. In support of the healthcare and sicknesses, we have a prayer room for all who come through the health clinic's doors. Each patient is given a number in the morning and must wait in line until their numbers are called. In some cases this takes all day. They are asked general questions about why they are seeking healthcare to find out the problems. After they finish screening, they are seen by a M.D. or a dentist depending on the problem, then they are given medicine from the pharmacy.
I was able to witness a tooth pulling as well as stitching of a wound. The minute and a half that the dentist pulled on the young girls tooth with pliers might have been the longest of my life. That's something you only get to witness from a spectators view in a third world country...or if you are a dentist...and after today...I know I don't want to be a one.
After each person recieves medical attention, they are offered prayer. If they want prayer, about 95% did, they come into the prayer room which is where I was all day.
I felt the overwhelming joy of the Lord being there. We asked if they had specific needs and there was incredible vulnerability.
One specific thing the Lord put on my heart that I prayed for every person was that they would delight themselves in Him, and through that that He would give them the desires of their hearts. (Psalms 37:4). Villa Catalina thrives with community and life and joy because it's residents are all people who used to live in a dump. What the Lord desires more than their health and homes is that they would seek satisfsction in Him! I received great clarity after praying for a few folks that what they needed was to be filled and overjoyed with the Lord. A simple concept can be crucial for healing a wide array of problems.
Pray that as the people of Villa Catalina look back on today that they would first and foremost remember the love of the Lord; that everything we did today would plant a seed in their heads and hearts that they are valued and cherished by the one who created them.
Buford Presbyterian and Wake Forest are finishing up their week tomorrow. Worship this week has been incredible, as we have prayed it would be. We teach the groups a new song each week and sing it every night and it becomes the theme for their week. This week it was,
Change me, break and rearrange me
Come and make me holy
Just like you
Change me, cleanse the self that drains me
Make me in your mercy,
Make me new
Change me Lord
I don't want to sin, be my cure
Make my life look just like yours
Change me, change me my Lord
Our reward for deeds and faithfulness is not wealth, health or earthly prosperity, our reward is Him! Pray that the Lord would change and break and rearrange all of our hearts to be satisfied in Him alone.
Father, may we look to you to be our reward for everything. You created us, You know us and in You alone we are satisfied. Grant us your grace to be filled with and and to be content in, You.
On another note,
Brad finally got to leave today. Spirit Air isn't on strike anymore.
This is him with Iris right before he left.
More to come.
Joey
