COINCIDENCE?... I Think Not

by Molly

(For those reading this who may not know, Molly is the girl we blogged about below who overcame temporary paralysis by the hand of God to be on this trip. The blessings keep on coming. - Gary)

Yesterday morning, in a spontaneous prayer meeting with Ariel, Karina, Bryan, Rachelle and myself, one of the prayers put on our hearts was that each of us would find our reason for being here. We know that it is God’s will that each of us is here, but we have been anxious to see how God would use us.

Our plan for yesterday morning was to visit families that attend the church and pray with them in their homes. Before we reached the church, Pastor Antonio asked if it would be okay if we visited a family that did not attend the church and were not Christians. We said that would be fine, of course, and he then led our group to the house of Pablo.

Pablo began to share with us about his grandson Domingo, who had fallen and now is paralyzed from the waist down. Upon hearing this, my heart broke for Domingo. I was overcome with emotion as I watched this twelve year old boy lay on his bed with no feeling or movement in his legs, knowing that just two weeks before I was in the exact same condition. I knew almost exactly what Domingo was going through.

Coincidence?.. I think not.

Although at the time, I could not see all the reasons for me being in the hospital, God had a plan to use me through that experience. I was able to feel for Domingo in a way I couldn’t have before.

What’s more, we just happened to have a physical therapist on our team. Jean, Katherine’s mom, stepped up and offered to teach Domingo and his family some necessary stretches to prevent stiffness and further injury to his legs. Then she asked about his upper body. The family said he had not been exercising his upper body because they had no exercises for him to do. Jean offered to send them an elastic stretch band for exercising his arms as soon as we arrived home. Just so happens, Ariel had thrown an elastic stretch band into her bag at the last minute just before we left for Guatemala.

Let me ask you again. Coincidence?...I think not.

I was then given the chance to share with Domingo. As I waited to talk to him, Karina, Ariel, Rachelle and Bryan began to pray that the words that I would speak were of God and would be an encouragement to Domingo and his family. I said what was on my heart and Antonio followed with a scripture reading. Then, as a group, we all prayed out loud for the family.

Today we will be returning to visit Domingo and his family and will be bringing them some supplies.

It was such a blessing to see how God answered our prayers and we can’t wait to see how He’s is going to further answer them in our future ministry work. We continue to pray for Domingo’s healing and his family’s protection and we ask that you will join us in our prayers.