the sick boy
14 Jul 2011 1 Comment
A few Sundays ago, I was trying to keep up with the pastor (all of it is in Thai) and my mind started wandering. I had this thought…what if there are sick kids today in the slums, maybe we should go to them and pray for them after we spend time with the other kids. We always pray for the kids, but this was going to be different. I tucked the thought away and tried to focus again on the sermon in Thai.
Here is Da praying for some of the healthy kids
But I kept thinking about the sick ones and wondering if we could pray for them too…
Later as our time was ending in the slums, I went to one of the women who leads the children’s ministry outreach (Knot) and asked her about maybe praying for any of the kids who were sick. She agreed and quickly began asking around if there were sick children we could go to and pray for. One little girl (probably 7 years old) came running up and said yes, her little brother had been very sick and could not come outside. She said she would take us to him. So Knot, Bobby and I began the trek deep into the slum to find the area this family lived in.
My mind started to wonder, is it going to be ok with his family if we show up like this? What if people are drunk or hostile toward us? The deeper we walked the more graphic the scene became. Water everywhere, tin sheets as walls, visible people lying around. You can see into each room/area, zero privacy. It is filthy, it is incredible poverty. The little girls seemed oblivious. They were skipping and laughing, holding my hand and my arms. Smiling and excited that were we coming with them. I began to pray silently in my heart…”Lord, please give us courage, let Your Spirit fall upon this place. Keep us calm and protect us, please help these people.” We kept walking deeper into the slum community, turning down paths and seeing more and more people.
Finally we got to the place where the boy lived. Knot spoke for us and explained that we wanted to help. Could we see him and pray for him? The father agreed and brought him out. He was maybe 3 or 4 years old and covered with chicken pox. I could tell Knot was concerned. She whispered to me in English…”be very careful, don’t touch him. It is very contagious.” She also said, “Pee Paula, I have never had chicken pox”. I knew that both Bobby and I HAD had it and we would be ok. So, we knelt down, reached for his little hands, and began to pray for him. I could hear Bobby and Knot praying as I did too, yet all else went very quiet. “Lord please heal this child. Lord, let Your love be known by this miracle to all who live here. Let your healing power come upon him and give him Your peace. Please protect this family from getting sick and please open their eyes to Your love”.
After we finished and opened our eyes, this little boy was kneeling before us perfectly still and silent with his eyes closed. I feel certain no one had ever prayed for him like that. It was really surprising to see him still kneeling there, eyes closed and perfectly still. Maybe God’s peace was already upon him, I don’t know, but it was beautiful to see!
The girls followed us all the way to our cars as we were leaving. Here is a picture of them:
Jul 17, 2011 @ 22:35:05
Have you heard how he is doing since you saw him? I could almost see his little body kneeling as I read this. I don’t even know what to say! God’s grace is upon you to allow you to be where you are.