Rats and RIDICULOUS healings!!!

For about the past two weeks I have been saying, "I need to write a blog"... so, here it goes. The past week has been filled with so many incredible stories. Some are funny, some are just incredible acts and testimonies of our Maker. I will share a few with you...

First and foremost, for those of you who do not know, I AM ENGAGED!!!! I am so excited, and this time is so hard apart from the incredible blessing that I call my fiance. (Jarrett Davis is the man. He came with my family to visit me here in Uganda. We went on a safari in Kenya and got engaged there.... it was AWESOME.) Everyone at RG has been so excited for me. Therefore the topic of marriage has been a conversation that we have been discussing lately. Here is a little cultural 411 from the Ugandans on marriage... The other day we were having a conversation with Godfree, the headmaster of the school, and he made the comment, "so I heard that American women don't like to be called fat..." (This may seem a little strange to you, but here in Uganda calling someone fat is a compliment. It means that you are "wealthy" and "beautiful" to them.) We explained that it was true as we discussed the difference in culture. We then learned from Godfree that in Uganda there are many tribes that purposely try to make their women REALLY fat before marriage. In these tribes, they lock the bride-to-be in a hut or house for 1 to 2 months and feed her HUGE amounts of very luxurious food. They feed her meat, bread, sweets, and all sorts of food to faten her up for her husband. In these tribes they actually hire someone to bathe her to prevent her from having to do anything but lay around and eat. He said they lather the women with oil and lotion to prepare her for the special day.... Oh how different our cultures are.

Now for a funny story. This morning as Mary Beth and I were cooking breakfast, little did we know what was about to occur. You truly never know what to expect in a day in Africa. We were fixing our coffee, when we heard a scurrying on the floor. Within the next moment a HUGE black "thing" was running across the floor. This creature, otherwise known as a rat, quickly ran straight into Mary Beth's foot and then began to run circles around us as we danced and screamed across the room. Within the next moment, MB and I were screaming and standing on top of two chairs with the rat nowhere to be found. You will be happy to know that within about 30 seconds of this occurrence, Ashley, and two of our security guards were at the door ready to protect us. So, if you can picture this incident, it was quite a sight. What a wonderful way to start your morning here in Africa. T.I.A.

Beyond the shocking cultural differences and rat incidents, God is so good. He truly just amazes me. Three days ago MB, Ashley, and I traveled to visit a friend and worker at RG. Her name is Amida. She works in the garden and bricks. We have gotten very close with Amida since the beginning of our time in Uganda. She is an incredible woman. When we first arrived at RG, Amida was one of the women that we connected with the most. This past March we visited her house to pray for her husband, Francis. We have written about Francis before on the blog.... a quick re-cap for those who have forgotten: Francis is Amida's husband who has been very sick with liver failure. When we visited him in March, Francis could not even stand because his bones were so frail. He was so weak that even sitting up to talk with us was very painful. His stomach looked like that of an 8-month pregnant woman, but his legs, face, and arms were skeletal. We prayed fervently with and for Francis's healing, and at the time saw no answer... Amida and Francis moved houses after our second visit in March, and we were not able to visit them until three days ago. When we reached their home, we were escorted into the hut where Francis was resting. I truly cannot even begin to tell you the joy that rushed through my heart as Francis stood up to his feet to greet us at the door. He did not look like the same person. I couldn't believe my eyes. His stomach was at a normal size, his arms were strong, his legs were no longer skeletal, and he actually had a somewhat chubby face. I could think of nothing but how incredible is our God. He hears the prayers of His children. For the past few months, Francis has not had the money to receive the proper medical treatment from a hospital. He has only taken a few small pills, and he has prayed. You have prayed, and we have prayed. WOW... This man was healed of liver failure because of prayer. He was healed because GOD IS SOOOOOOO GOOD. We stayed at their house for a few hours. We talked about life, his family, God's provision in healing him, and we read through Mathew 5 and James 5... We discussed that God hears the prayers of the righteous. He says in James 5 "the prayer of the righteous is POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE." How true is the word of God? How incredible and blessed am I that I am able to see it with my own eyes. So I want to thank you for your prayers for Francis. You have taken inheritance into this man's life. God has heard you. He hears us, He hears Francis, and God says YES!!!

I am overwhelmed by His power, His goodness, His grace, His miraculous hand that reaches down and shows His majesty in countless ways. I am truly blessed. T.I.A.

-Macy-

The enemy comes to lie, to cheat, and to steal.

As you can imagine the longer my time seems here the more my heart gets rooted into the people of Uganda. Most specifically into the children here at Restoration Gateway. We have had our share of healings in the classroom, of prayer nights and talks of evangelism…

We taught the children about Russia and prayed for it during our "Pray for the Nations" morning and now some of the children are overcome by the fact that there are people that don't know about Jesus in Russia. With such great concern they confronted me and Macy one day and said "Auntie, is it true that there are people in Russia who don't know about Jesus?" we said yes and that there are several countries who don't even know the name of Jesus. Then sweet Ojok Morris said very matter-of-factly "Well Auntie, then Im going to go and tell them about Jesus." 

…and as I have written to you before, these children themselves could be the choir of angels that meet us at the gates of Heaven. The children here know God so well and yearn for him in ways that I wish I could claim for myself. But as I see them grow more and more into men and women of God, I see the schemes the enemy is laying out for these children. The more they press in…the more the enemy attacks. Honestly, I love it! I love love love getting to walk with these children and confidently laugh in the face of the enemy. I love that I have been given the privilege and the honor to disciple these children! To teach them what it means to walk against the flesh and move more into God….to teach them that we are already on the winning side and that's why we can walk in confidence, free from fear (which is faith in the devil) into the love of God and away from the enemy's lies. I love that Jesus chose me to be a part of this! That he would even call me worthy enough to take inheritance in these lives! Our God is an almighty, gracious, loving and kind King! Wow! Please be overwhelmed with me in his goodness right now! This would probably be an appropriate place for a "Selah."

Selah. 

I want to give you a testimony of everything I just described through a story of our sweet girl, Akot Miriam. 

Miriam is 13 years old and as fire-ry as all get out! She is just about as full of sass as one could be….and  I love it! It is actually because of this sass that we decided it would only be appropriate for me (one of the same breed) to disciple her. Well, over the past several months she has been dealing with chronic bed-wetting. In its duration it has obviously become more and more of a problem. Her house-mates and even others had started mocking her for it and there was even an instance of her being attacked because of it. Everyone became disgusted by her and would avoid her, remarking that she was "unclean." Obviously when it came to our attention everything that was happening we sought to address it. On Sunday afternoon Miriam and I went for a walk to talk through some things. As we were walking I asked her the simple question "Do you feel loved?" She told me she didn't. When I asked her who didn't love her she told me a list of people. I then asked her if she felt like there was anyone who did love her…she said "yes" and gave me a list of the people who she knew loved her (mostly just adults and her three aunties and Jesus). I then preceded to ask her why she felt like these people didn't love her. She told me it was because she "susus" in her bed (this is "pee" in their language). At that we began talking about why she thinks that she wets her bed every night and from there I asked a few more questions…

let me first interject and say that the questions the Lord led me to ask and the wisdom and patience he gave me in speaking with her is SO unbelievably of him! If you know me, you know that my natural giftings do not include compassion or wisdom!

…after we went through a series of questions and answers, it led us to the key player of the whole situation. When I asked her what she thought about every night before she goes to sleep she told me she thinks about "the people who have died." When I asked her who that was she told me it was her mother. She said her mother didn't know Jesus and that right before she wets the bed she has the same dream: she is blinded, not able to see anything but that she will hear her mother's voice calling out to her and telling her to "susu." 

Immediately I recognized it as a demonic attack. Only a month before she had come to me and told me about the spirits she would see in her room every night and from then she learned that she had authority over any demonic presence….so we spoke into the dream as the enemy's assignment. I told her that the enemy wants to lie to us and make us believe wholeheartedly even the most unconventional lies. And that the enemy wants her to feel unloved, undesired and dirty. But that is NOT who she is. And that he was using this dream to make her wet the bed so that the people around her would respond in a way that "proves" to her that they don't love her. But it is all a lie. Because she is SO loved! We then prayed together and we got to cancel out any attack the enemy had planned on her….especially in her sleep. 

Well on Thursday, when we got back from a trip to Kampala, I asked Miriam if she had wet the bed since she spoke against the enemy's lies and she told me that she hasn't done it since!! 

Praise Jesus!! Praise him because he calls us worthy, he calls us beautiful and he has given us victory! He has given us victory over the enemy and he "laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming." Psalm 37:13

mb