healed

Buddy and I went out tonight for the street ministry that we do once a week; it is now 1:30am but I am so excited about what happened tonight that I cannot sleep so here I am writing. We got to see a man get healed right in front of us. It was truly miraculous. We thank God that we were given the opportunity to witness it.

So Buddy and I were in a team tonight with one other couple. Buddy was the leader of the team and he felt we should walk directly to this one street where men work (yes, men, if you catch my drift--please realize that due to a vast age range of readers of our blog that I try to write as discreetly as possible). It is a very dark street. So as we approached the end of the street we said hi to this one man, and he responded. So I said (in German, but I will write it all in English, obviously…)

“Hi! How are you doing tonight?”

He said, “Like sh__.”

“Oh, pretty horrible, huh?”

“No, not horrible, like sh__.”

Okay…got it. He wasn’t having a good night. A good week. A good month or a good year. Turns out he hadn’t gotten ‘work’ in 10 days and he was at his wit’s end, as now he was in debt as he couldn’t pay his hotel room and whoever else. He was clearly stressed out. He kept saying the sh—word over and over. Then he began to cry. He was trying not to but he couldn’t help it. He is from an eastern block country and he came to Germany to find work. Back home he has a wife and 4, no, 3 children—one just died. As did his mother and cousin. He wanted to find normal work in Germany but he couldn’t, so for the past two months he has been working here on the streets. Back home they have no idea that he is doing this for work. Hates it, and is ashamed. And now he is in debt, hasn’t eaten in 10 days, hasn’t been able to send back money to his family in 10 days so they haven’t eaten either. He continues to curse.

So I tell him how we are Christians and ask if we can pray for him. That is NOT what he wants to hear. It actually made him angry. And he starts ranting about what “sh__” his life is and how could there be a God with all that has happened to him and his family. He says “Look at me. I’m a man. Look what I’m doing. I am sick. I have barely any clothes on and I am freezing but I have to wear this” and he kept coughing. He didn’t sound good at all. His said his heart was dead--Mein Herz ist kaputt. He couldn’t take it anymore.

Then Buddy felt compelled to tell him what the Bible says about him—again, he got angry. The Bible? Forget it. Don’t go there. More cursing. But Buddy said it anyway.

“Tell him that in the Bible God says that he is fearfully and wonderfully made.”

So we do, and he didn't fight it but seemed to receive it. Then we talked some more (we were with him for about an hour) and finally we ask if it’s okay if we pray for him. To our surprise, he says yes. So we do.

About 10 minutes later, after we are done praying, his whole countenance and personality changed. He kept pointing to his nose, telling us something, but we didn’t understand what he was saying (his German was about as bad as mine is). But he was really trying to tell us something. Finally we got it. He was telling us that he was healed. His nose that was all stuffed up was healed. He began to smile, and he looked so peaceful. He said his congested and heavy chest was healed, and his heart. And he began to thank us profusely, and hug us. He even prayed a prayer himself. It was surreal. What's really interesting is that we didn't even pray for healing for him--we were praying for him to get out of this mess and to be able to find a normal job and to go home to his family. We prayed for his manhood to be returned to him. And God ends up physically healing him...and I hope and believe that He healed him in every way.

As we said goodbye and walked away, Buddy and I went back to tell him one last thing…and right then 3 men (that appeared to be ‘in charge’ of him) aggressively approached him (they must have been across the street watching us). One got right in his face, and I’m guessing he said something like “What in the ... do you think you’ve been doing talking to these dumb people?!” But the guy had no fear, and was smiling, and looked them straight in the eyes and told them fearlessly how we’d prayed for him and how God had healed him. He looked so happy and joyful, even radiant, as he was telling them what had happened. He kept pointing up to heaven. They still didn’t look very happy with him and the whole situation, so I told them who we were, and asked if they would like to be prayed for, too. The one guy who had yelled at him was gone, but the other two said,

“Yes, please pray for us too, for our families.”

So we did. And it was powerful and amazing and the four of us left this dear man in awe of what we’d just experienced.

Did you get that? A man who was filled with anger and bitterness, crying tears of hopelessness and despair and in his brokeness was cursing the hand of God--was now filled with joy and peace. And he could not contain it.

In the darkness tonight a Light has shone, and a man was healed.

Hallelujah.

This is why we’re here.

Thank you, Lord, for sending us.