Chapter 4

4.

"Come on out. It's ministry time." Erik, the bus captain, poked his head into the little room where Lydia, Beth, Peter, and the three other young men had been interceding for the service a couple nights later.

They all filed out and lined up with the rest of the ministry team in front of the stage. This was their first night of ministry. Lydia jigged excitedly. She couldn't wait to start praying!

Estevam, the young man who had preached that night, invited the people to come up for prayer. After the interpreter gave the invitation in Portuguese, a little, old lady hobbled up to Lydia with the help of a cane. "Voce quer ora cao para que?" Lydia asked what the lady wanted prayer for. The lady started jabbering an answer in Portuguese which Lydia couldn't understand. All the Portuguese Lydia knew were the few phrases that had been given on the tape from the Global Awakening acceptance package. Lydia bit her lip uncertainly, looking around the huge warehouse, where the church held its meetings, trying to find a translator.

"Do you need someone to translate?" a middle-age man in a gray, wool sweater asked, coming up to Lydia.

"Yes, Fausto," Lydia said looking at his name tag. "I can't understand what she is wanting prayer for."

Fausto turned to the lady and spoke to her for a second. "She is having trouble with her lungs. She has had this problem for nine months and the doctors aren't quite sure what to do."

"Ok," Lydia nodded and put her hand over the woman's chest. She started to pray, "Vem, Espirito Santo. Vem. Vem com seu poder."

Fifteen minutes went by and nothing seemed to happen. Lydia bit her tongue to stifle a sigh, having a self-pity party in her head. "How is it now?" Lydia asked for what seemed the hundredth time.

Fausto interpreted the question to the lady. As the lady answered, Lydia looked from her to the women gathered around her, who Lydia guessed were also praying. These ladies had made Lydia extremely self-conscious, causing her muscles to tighten up and spasm. Even though they had kind faces it seemed as though they were staring at her and expecting her to do something spectacular.

"She says she feels better and she believes the Lord has healed her," Fausto relayed to Lydia.

"Ok," Lydia wasn't satisfied with the answer but she was getting the impression that the lady was tired of being prayed for.

She moved on, and Fausto followed her. A woman in her thirties came up to Lydia. She was skinny, with short, black hair, and a friendly smile. She looked to Fausto and told him something. "She says that there's a tingling sensation in her feet. The doctors say it is bad circulation," Fausto told Lydia.

"How long has she had this problem?" Lydia asked.

"It started three months ago," Fausto replied after inquiring of the lady.

"Do the doctors know what caused it, or did something traumatic happen around the time this started?" Lydia queried. When the question was translated the lady looked thoughtful for a second and slowly shook her head.

"Nao," she said. Lydia recognized that word.

"No, ok. Qaul e seu nome?"

"Christiana," the lady answered.

"All right," Lydia nodded her head. She smiled kindly at Christiana before kneeling down to lay her hands on Christiana's feet. She began to pray the few simple Portuguese prayers she had learned. "Vem, Espirito Santo. Vem com seu poder. Mais Espirito Santo."

After a few minutes of praying in her broken Portuguese, Lydia straightened. "Is she feeling anything?" Lydia asked Fausto. As Fausto asked Christiana, Lydia watched her face and hands. Lydia could tell by her facial expressions and how she moved her hands that she was excited.

"There is fire moving through her legs and feet." "Good," Lydia exclaimed remembering from the teaching on healing that afternoon that fire meant God was touching the person. She knelt down and prayed again.

"Mais fogo, mais fogo, Senhor," Lydia called upon the Lord. Christiana shook uncontrollably under the power of the Holy Spirit.

"Is it better?" Lydia questioned several minutes later.

Once more Fausto and Christiana chattered in Portuguese. "She says that God has completely healed her," Fausto finally answered.

A huge smile lit up Lydia's face as she looked up at Christiana. She clapped her hands emphatically. "Gloria a Deus!" Lydia exclaimed. (Praise the Lord!)

"Gloria a Deus! Obrigada," Christiana said putting a hand on Lydia's shoulder and smiling. She then walked off.

"Thank You, Lord!" Lydia sent a prayer Heavenward. Still the frustration she had felt while praying for the older lady lingered. As much as she tried to shake the feeling she couldn't get rid of it. A huge rock weighed down in her gut, giving a sick-in-the-stomach feeling.

---------------------

Rose walked up to a man who was waiting with a little boy who was in a wheel chair. Beside them was a girl about Rose's age who held her hand out to Rose. "Hello....my name....Violate. This is...my uncle and cousin, Julius." Violate introduced them.

"I'm Rose. What is wrong with Julius?"

"He has been paraly...lyzed from birth and his left... leg is...longer than...right...one," Violate said in broken English.

"What caused him to be paralyzed?"

"Please...speak...slower."

"Sorry. What caused him to be paralyzed?" Rose asked this time slower.

Violate conferred with Julius' father and then turned back to Rose. "His...pel...vic bone collided...with his...femur?" Violate pointed to her own body to illustrate. She looked up at Rose with a confused look as though to confirm that she was saying it all right, that Rose understood.

Rose nodded as she knelt down in front of Julius. He looked at her with the saddest, deepest eyes she had ever seen. Those brown eyes looked fathomless. She laid a kind hand on his shoulder, her heart going out to this boy who had never known the joys of running. In one glance into those eyes, Rose fell in love with this little boy who sat hunched over in his wheelchair.

"How old are you, Julius?"

Violate translated the question for Rose. Julius held up nine fingers. "Nove?" Rose said with a smile also holding up nine fingers. Julius nodded his head slowly.

"All right, should we pray together and ask God to heal you?" Rose asked taking Julius' small frail hand. He nodded, staring at her with those fathomless eyes. "Ok." Rose started to pray, keeping her eyes open waiting to see any visible evidence of God moving on Julius. She prayed for him the whole hour of ministry time. The longer she prayed the more she wanted him to be healed. He wasn't just some little boy to her. He was someone with a character and emotions, someone she could empathize with.

Every once in awhile, she would ask him if he could move his legs or if he was feeling anything. Every time she got that sad shake of the head that told her so far nothing was happening. Still she refused to meet defeat! She wanted his healing as much as he did.

About a half hour after starting to pray, Rose got an idea. "Can I take his shoe off for a second?" She asked looking up at Violate. Violate asked Julius who nodded his head. Rose carefully untied the shoe and slipped it off. Then with her index finger she scratched his foot and wiggled his toes. "Can you feel that?" Julius shook his head. "Absolutely no feeling in the feet, eh?" she mused.

"All right. Vem Espirito Santo. Vem com seu poder. Mais uncao para a cura." Rose began to pray again. "Can you stand?" she asked after several more minutes.

Julius' father and Violate helped him out of his chair. No sooner was he in a standing position than his knees buckled underneath him. If it hadn't been for his father, Julius would have fallen onto Rose who was kneeling in front of him.

"All right, that's ok. Healing sometimes is a process. God will heal you! He loves to heal His children. We just will keep praying unless you want to quit for now, and we can pray again tomorrow." Violate put the suggestion past Julius.

He shook his head rambling something in Portuguese. "He says...wants to...keep praying."

"Good. Then let's get to it," Rose said happy that he wasn't willing to give up. "Mais uncao para a cura. Mais uncao em nome de Jesus," Rose continued praying.

"We have five more minutes, guys," Erik called out.

"I have to leave in a little bit. Are you feeling anything Julius?" Rose asked.

"Nao," Julius answered. This was the first direct answer Rose had gotten out of him.

Rose nodded. "Dear Lord, we know that You want to heal Julius. We thank You for that and that You are going to heal him." Rose waited for the interpretation before going on. "Come Lord and touch Julius with Your healing anointing in Jesus' name. Straighten his pelvic bone so that it won't interfere with his walking."

"It's time to get into the bus," Erik announced.

Rose looked up at Erik with a small frown and then back at Violate, Julius, and his father. "Are you going to be here for tomorrow's meeting?"

Violate looked to Julius' father and asked. "Yes, we will."

"Then you will be the first person I pray for. How does that sound, Julius?" Julius nodded his head. "Good! God's going to heal you, Julius. I know He will. God bless you." Rose squeezed his hand giving him one last smile before standing up and making her way to the back of the church where the rest of her team had started out for the bus.

--------------------

"All right, that was awesome! You all surely got your swords bloody tonight," Erik announced once everyone had settled into the bus. "I need everyone's attention now. We need to do stats. How many people got healed? Hold up fingers for how many people got healed." Fingers went up throughout the bus. "Estevam, help me count."

Once he had gotten all the statistics for healings, salvations, people who had been commissioned, and so on, Erik read the results aloud. The attack on the devil's forces of darkness had been successful, and many of his captives had been set free that night! So despite Lydia's feelings of frustration, the first night of ministry could be rightly declared a victory. So she took a deep breath and put on a smile.

"We were filled up on the bus ride here and then we gave out to the people. Now it's time to get filled up again. So everybody get into your receiving modes," Erik told the busload of teens and their leaders. Lydia closed her eyes and held out her hand with a heavy sigh.

Erik prayed a simple prayer and then in a quiet, gentle voice he started declaring the love of the Heavenly Father. He did it in an interesting way, a way that Lydia had never thought of before. "...God has a huge wallet, and in it He has each one of your pictures in it. He is so proud of each one of you. All day He goes about Heaven showing the angels your pictures saying, 'Look at My kids. They are down on earth working hard to touch as many lives as they can for Me. I'm so proud of them.'" As Erik talked the anxious knot that had been sitting in the pit of Lydia's stomach melted away. The peace of God filled the bus and it worked as a soothing ointment on her bundled up nerves.