Week 1

There we were, sat on little wooden stools, an open sewer running next to us, flies landing on us continuously, in the heat of the day, with the dust blowing into our eyes. There aren't many places on earth where physical poverty is more in evidence than there, in the heart of Kibera. And this morning God was there, and it was quite literally awesome to be included as a witness to it.

So many places in the Bible it talks about God's heart, or concern, for the poor. And this morning, that's what we saw. It was an amazingly humbling experience, a real privilege to be a part of, and a day I will long remember.

For two hours the four of us (Emily & Pastor Shadrack, Eunice & myself) were available to pray for people. And they came - we prayed for people suffering from all kinds of infirmities, some who were experiencing abuse, some who had exhausted their meagre finances on dodgy clinics and were no better for it, and all open to experiencing the power of God in their lives. At 12:00 when we were due to finish we had a queue of people waiting, and we had to continue till 12:20 to clear the backlog. All in all, 16 people with direct healing requests were prayed for, and many of them could feel the Holy Spirit on them, through them, in them, as we prayed.

There was suspicion at first, many people wondering what we were all about, unbelieving that it was free, and one even thought we were a mobile health clinic! But after the first one or two accepted the offer of prayer, and people could see there wasn't anything sinister going on, and that we didn't demand payment from them (something that many 'Christian healers' do here) their confidence grew. Some engaged us in conversation, before heading off on an errand, promising to return on their way back. Others walked past unwilling to make eye-contact, but obviously interested in what was on offer. Others just came and sat down on one of the available stools to chat and pass the time of day.

But through all of these came the ones who God wanted us to pray for. We had one lady openly breatfeeding her child whilst she was being prayed for (bet that doesn't often happen in Coleraine), and others who were so open with us when discussing their problems, with nowhere else to turn. The Holy Spirit was moving on these people as we prayed for them, and we believe He began the healing process in them at that time. It's funny to think that now, a couple of hours or so later, people will be realising they have been healed, and hopefully going and telling their friends about what God has done for them.

Could this morning have been any more encouraging for us as a team? I suppose if a one-legged person had come and we'd seen his missing leg grow, then yes. But maybe that's for next week!