Thank You Penang

Well, our time in in Penang is drawing to a close. We leave here tomorrow and return to Bangkok on the 24 hour train. We will spend New Years in Bangkok, and then bus up to Northern Thailand to Elisha Children's Home, where we will be serving for a month.

It's hard to believe that three weeks of outreach has passed so quickly. In that time we have all seen God do so much either for us or through us for other people. A highlight for me was when a small group of us visited a local hospital here in Penang. We me the chaplain of the hospital and told her that we would like to pray for people. She was really nice and put together a list of patients who would like to be prayed for. My friend and I prayed for an Indian man and his wife. While I was praying, I could really feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room. I had goosebumps as I held her hand and prayed for her health and the needs of her family. As I came out of the room, I was like, what on earth just happened. I have never prayed with so much confidence before. I was pumped because I knew that it wasn't me but God through me and He was there with us to show us amazing things. And something amazing is what we saw.

What I am about to share with you may sound totally nuts and I have no idea what your thoughts are or how you feel about what I'm about to say .. but I would like to share my experience of  seeing someone being healed through the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit. I have always heard stories of people being healed through prayer, but it always seemed to be a far off unbelievable thing. Growing up, it was never really something that was talked about at church, or if it was I never heard anything. Healings always happened through medicine, and yes, I believe that God uses medicine and doctors, but healing without 'the middle man' ie doctors, has always intrigued me.

So at the hospital after I prayed for the Indian lady, Chloe and I came out of her room to find the other half of our group talking to another lady. She was telling them that she had had a fall and couldn't lift her arm up very high because she had torn ligaments and it was very painful. One of our team had offered to pray for her, and even though she was a Hindu lady she accepted. We layed hands on her and waited. After one of the team prayed for her, she said it felt warm. So we prayed again. This time she said that if the pain had been a 10 it had now reduced to a 6. The four of us looked at each other and were like, well lets pray again. This time after we finished praying she lifted her arm from her lap and raised it to shoulder level. She told us that it didn't hurt any more and it felt so much better. We stood looking at each other just going WHOA. We were so pumped that God had done that through us and it spurred us on for the rest of the day. Each time we prayed, I felt goosebumps, and just had this sense that the Holy Spirit was there working. God was listening and answering our prayers right in front of our eyes.

So many amazing things are happening here, and it makes me totally excited to see what else God has in store as we continue our journey. I shared in our team time the other day that I want to see God do the big stuff and I want to be apart of that with Him. So scary or not I'm stepping up in a big way and letting God do His thing through me. It's not easy, and I'm not always willing, God doesn't mind. I know that He is there supporting me and loving what I am doing to further His kingdom. I am His child, and with me He is well pleased.