Today we had a pro with us, Nick - a pastor from Frome who is involved with HotS in the UK. His son, Ben was also coming onto the team, so today we had a team of seven. Our hour of preparation was great, and we had the opportunity to pray and lay hands on each member of the team.
Once out on the street, under our resurrected shade that provided much-needed relief from the sun, it was another busy Monday. All in all we had 25 people stop for prayer, with a complete range of needs that we could pray for. Many of the people we pray for each week bring a collection of needs - some health-related, some financial, and some family problems. All are important, and we believe that God's Kingdom can come in any and every area of a person's life, so we pray for them all.
A short time after we started I noticed Hesbon hobbling along the street on his crutches. We prayed for him a few weeks ago, after he had broken his knee, and that night was the first night he had been able to sleep without painkillers. Today, as he hobbled along, I went over to him to start chatting, and offered to pray with him some more. He was quite happy, and I grabbed a stool and brought it to him to save him having to struggle to get to us. Fortunately, Ben was just finishing praying with somebody else, so I invited him over to pray with us. After some prayer, we asked Hesbon what he was feeling, and he said the pain was less. After some more prayer he had more mobility in his leg, and gingerly attempted to stand unaided. When he started trying to take some small steps I was getting nervous, and tried to move round so that if his leg gave way he would at least have me to lean on. But I wasn't needed. His leg didn't give way, and he could bend his knee, and walk on the uneven ground, slowly at first, but gradually gaining his confidence as the realisation of healing set in. As that realisation dawned, a smile started to spread across his face - the most wonderful smile I have seen I think. I suggested he take off the thick support bandage he was wearing and try without it. He did, and could fully support himself, and walk normally. I kept asking him if he had any pain, but no he didn't. By now a smile was spreading on Ben's and my face too, as the realisation of what God had done sank in.
Hesbon walked away smiling, waving his crutches around as he didn't know what to do with them. It was another wonderful example of God demonstrating his love for the poor, and of His Kingdom coming in Kibera.
There were other healings too, people who came in pain left pain-free, others said they felt lighter after we had prayed, another lady came with a serious blood pressure problem that made her weak, and after prayer could hold something with a firm grip that demonstrated her strength had returned.
One of the final ladies I had the privilege to pray for, Florence, had no hands - as a result of an accident with fire when she was six years old. My heart cried out to her, and I asked her if I could pray for her hands. As I was praying she said she could feel something in the top of her arms, so we prayed some more. I don't know if I was expecting to actually see new hands form and fingers grow, or what. They didn't, and I don't know if they will. I don't know why they didn't, why God healed Hesbon but didn't heal Florence. Many places in the Bible it says that the sick were brought to Jesus and He healed them all, not just some of them. Maybe when God heals all those who come to us, that will be the time we really start to see God's Kingdom come in Kibera.
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