Loves Promise & Provision

The morning before our return home .......

His eyes were so blue, his frame somewhat fragile, his few words were powerful.

On this our final day, Kim and I along with our translator Tanya, went to purchase a bed for a pastor and his wife. As we were leaving the store an old gentleman, dressed in a white shirt and tie, approached us and attempted to speak. His presence was compelling as he touched his lips and with tears rolling down his checks, pointed to the sky and repeated the words "God Loves Everyone", then pointing to each of us said "God loves you, and you , and you." We embraced each other and prayed together. He told us he was touched with our presence in his country. Then pointing, once again to heaven he said "God Loves Everyone. God Loves Everyone."
As we got into the van, waved goodbye and drove away, Kim and I looked at each other with the same thoughts. Did we just experience an angelic visit? Had we just entertained an angel? We didn't take a picture? Then as we had done so often, we laughed and said "that was extraordinary!" Our team had gone from describing our experiences as 'unbelievable' to 'believable' to 'extraordinary.'
We were becoming  'believing believers' with an extraordinary God!

The elderly gentleman's words to us were appropriate and confirming. Gods love was a theme that had been woven throughout our teaching and our times of prayer. God Is Love, began to mean more than simply knowing God loves us. Love is a description of God and is a description of what we experienced.

Many times when we would pray for an individual, a clear sense of love was present and tangible. We witnessed Love healing emotional wounds and bringing salvation as we were able to touch through prison bars, as we were able to embrace weeping men and women or hold a sobbing teenager. Love was healing, physically, as pain disappeared and life returned to limbs, allowing a young mother to get out of her wheelchair and begin to walk. Allowing a bedridden women, given no hope by her doctor and sent home to face death, to get up out of that bed singing praises to Jesus for making her whole! Allowing a man diagnosed with a heart condition to know he was now well, as he was able to walk 4 kilometers to church, up and down hills and very bumpy dirt roads, excited to tell his pastor that he's been healed.

Yes! For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. God so loved that he showed up in the lives of people. He took action. What a sacred trust and privilege, that we're invited to be co-labourers with Jesus!
When the Spirit of the living God shows up, "in the name of Jesus", Love shows up and healing happens. We can have an encounter with our creator who knows us, who sees us and calls us by name, who knows our need and wants to give us the desire of our heart, who invites us to believe and receive and be made whole in Spirit, Soul and Body. Praise be to our God , in the Name above all names, Jesus, and in the Power of the Holy Spirit! All of God's promises are Yes & Amen to His children. God Is Love. God loves everyone. God loves You. Love wants You well.
That is Love's Promise!

The afternoon before our return home ...........

As our final day in Nicaragua was scheduled to be a "rest & pack day",  that sounded like a great plan for the afternoon. Kim sat, in the dining room, at the computer and I decided to have a literal rest in a hammock. This would be the second opportunity I had to lay down and look up at the sky. Yay!
I took a comfy position in the hammock, facing in the opposite direction from my previous hammock rest. I wanted to take in all the beauty of our surroundings at Jardin Shalom. I was amazed and grateful to our Heavenly Father for His provision. I remembered my very first trip to this country when God's provision seemed so very real and Psalm 121 confirmed our experiences and the care that God promises for His people.

Then another wow moment! ......... In a blue sky with a few clouds, a rainbow appeared!
I called Kim to come and bring her camera. To our delight a second rainbow appeared. This time we did get a photo of the double rainbow that we were blessed to encounter.
We thanked and Praised God for this sign that speaks of  His Mercy, Glory, Power & Promise for now and forevermore. Hallelujah!

As the sun set we were able to capture its beauty as the final rays shed a glow over the gate into Jardin Shalom. On top of the entrance gate are two significant symbols. The Cross and the Fleur De Lis. As one insightful woman on our team (who is currently Clerk of Session in her Presbyterian Church) pointed out, the symbol of the Fleur De Lis with it's 3 spears speaks of the trinity. The symbol in Christian art is attributed to the Angel Gabrielle. I don't know if that symbol was put atop the gate, purposefully or unknowingly. What I am confident in is that God is indeed working out His Plan, Purpose, Provision and Protection as we enter and exit this place. Hallelujah!

Barb Hurren

Grace

Grace and her sons, Maynard and Marcello

Update on Graces' life. We met with Grace over a week ago and we are so excited to reunite with her. She had much to share with us both bad news and good news. I will start with the not so good news. A few days after we had met with Grace she went to pick up some coffee beans she purchased to sell as a means of income. After she picked them up she had the bags of beans in her lap and a number of young men came up to her and try to grab her purse and she fought back and they hit her on the head and pushed her out of the wheel chair, talking her purse and all her coffee, her potential income. She was left with a goose egg on her head, scraped knees, vulnerable to those who chose to rob, steal and destroy. THE GOOD NEWS. She still has a smile on her face and the hope and faith in the LORD are with her.

Grace shared with us that she made an appointment with the doctor to have a full medical assessment. The first miracle was the doctor did not charge her for this assessment. The second miracle is what the assessment results revealed. The doctor told her that she has LIFE IN HER SPINE!!!! Grace has life in the neuron pathways of her spine and he told her "YOU WILL WALK." The doctor set her up to receive physiotherapy four times a week. The amazing thing is; is that this was not her medical report assessment since the time she broke her neck over two years ago. She was told that she would not walk and that there was no neurological function to her lower half of her body, forearms and hands. Praise the Lord for God has the final say and His stamp of approval is HEALED AND DELIVERED. Thank you Father God for your LOVE that brings wholeness the way you created us to be. Thank you for the wonderful plans and purposes you have for Grace and her two beautiful boys.

Our final evening attending a church service in Managua at Pastor Jose's (Reparto Schick Church). The church is situated in a very rough and dangerous part of town. We found out they were starting an outreach the next day for a month in their community. They would go to the streets and share the good news of the  gospel in love with the manifest power of  God to help their fellowman. They were very grateful and encouraged as we shared the understanding and teaching that we have been learning. We prayed with them and once again witnessed the power of God manifest to bring healing and deliverance to many that evening. We prayed for the equipping of these saints for the love, wisdom and power of Jesus to flow through them to the ones they would meet. That people they meet would get set free from every bondage or form of oppression that is keeping them from walking in their freedom.   Praise God, for whom Jesus sets free is free indeed!!!!!!!

Kim

Faith hindered by our sight!

Rise and shine, it is a new day. Another beautiful sunrise in paradise in the midst of such oppression. Today we met with many who were being oppressed by heartache, sickness, cancer, witchcraft, lies, and so on, desperate for hope of a new day. Barb and I along with our translator Tanya went to minister at Manolo Morales Hospital. We met Marta at the hospital. Marta is an amazing woman who has laid down her life to God to serve people. She is the connection for PAN Mission to many of the hospitals to bring needed medical supplies, supporters for patients, and to pray for the sick in these hospitals.

This day we were led to a one room house that was used for families that live a long distance from this hospital, to provide a place to sleep and stay while their family member is being treated for cancer. We arrived at this one large room house that had multiple beds side by side. Family members and their sick loved ones sat on the beds and some chairs to listen to Marta share the good news of receiving Jesus as their savior and Lord. She spoke specifically to the men about their pride being the block which hardens their heart to hear and receive this beautiful gift of Jesus. Barb and I were able to share testimony of God's love and willingness and absolute desire to heal us. We prayed for many parents and their ailments and broken hearts to be healed in the name of Jesus. Many were healed in their heart, being lifted up and restored in hope, faith and joy. Many ailments restored with no more pain and complete relief.

We had the opportunity to pray for a young lady of about 18 years of age. She asked if we could pray for her. She told us that she had a tumor removed from her neck which left her with a  large vertical incision on the right side of her neck. She said, " I have so much pain in my neck and I cannot move it." I asked her if she knew the results of the surgery, and did they remove all the cancer. At that time she did not know the results. So I laid my hand on her heart and ministered the love of God to this young lady. She wept, and then we prayed for any cancer remaining to leave and be destroyed in the name of Jesus and spoke for all her muscles, tendons, all soft tissues and nerves to be restored in her neck to full capacity. All things being made new. We asked her how she is doing, and with joyful tears she spoke, " I have NO PAIN, AND I CAN MOVE MY NECK FREELY." We gave all the Glory to the Father with her. Glory be to God!!!!!

We have another story to share with you, one that we all face, a question of where our mind and heart are at. There was a man who was in the room and came up for prayer to be healed and set free. He had a very large tumor on the lower part of his jaw that protruded from his face the size of a golf ball. Barb prayed for this man. This is an honest account of our faith in God being hindered by what we see in front of us. 2nd Corinthians 5:7 says "For we walk by faith and not by sight." Sometimes the sight of what we see causes us to focus on that thing as something that is too big. It is impossible for this thing to leave and dissolve in front of our eyes when is seems so real and immoveable. Our belief and eyes on that thing (mountaian) becomes so powerful and our faith in God so weak, this results in nothing happening. We learn from our mistake of focusing on our 5 senses (sight, hearing, taste, feel and smell). Our faith must be in the ONE, by faith in the Son of God, JESUS.

We went to this country church in the hills. I call it the Pineapple Church. It is surrounded by pineapple fields. We arrive and the service is in full swing of clapping and signing with all their hearts praises God. The pastor is young, 20 something full of love for the Lord and the community around him. We shared the love of God and scriptures that confirm His love and promises to bring wholeness to broken hearts, broken spirits, broken bodies, any thing and all things that are broken. As we invited them to come up to receive from the Lord, they came up with such expectation for God to meet them in their need. Men, woman of all ages and children were standing with their arms reached out in front of them and the power of Gods love was tangibly touching them before we ever laid hands on them to pray. It was such a powerful sight to see people weeping and shaking under the gentle, power of the Most High bringing healing and restoration to their body, soul and spirit. There were so many testimonies of the manifest healing in these people. The woman above whom Lori is embracing shared that she had been so terribly heart broken from so much loss in her life. She said, her physical heart literally ached with so much emotional pain all the time for a number of years. Joy completely robbed  from her life. While Lori embraced this woman in prayer, the woman said." the power of Gods love entered her heart and dissolved all the deep, pain, burden and sadness from her heart and she experienced the peace, love and joy entering her heart and the ache completely gone." She said, "I am a brand new person, full of joy, my life restored." Wow that is our loving Fathers perfect way!!!!! So many were healed, every disease that plagued their bodies. WOW, Gods loving power to set the captives free is so believable, extraordinary.

Kim

Prisons

Oh how he loves us.........

Today we are going to two prisons, the first one is a prison in Niquinohmo that has just been built. It is a brand new facility. It is basic and clean which is a considerable improvement from the last jail we experienced. There are two cells in this jail. Pastor Julio ex-courted us into the jail where we ministered the gospel to these precious men. He asked the men who had already given their heart to Jesus and two men put up their hands. Pastor Julio spoke with them and as he focused on the one group of men in the cell to the left, I had opportunity to share with the other men in the cell to the right.

God has placed an understanding in my heart that God loves everyone. God is pursuing each one of us with such passionate love to bring us out of darkness into the light which brings the truth of His son Jesus. Jesus did not come to judge but to save us. I looked into their eyes and could see the walls up to protect their broken hearts. I asked them to come close to me so I could share some of my own story with them. I spoke to them about how God had forgiven all my past sins, all the ways I had hurt others and God, even to the point of murder. Sometimes the harder thing to do, is to forgive ourselves for what we have done. A man named Pablo, was really having a hard time receiving this message. He said to me, " I cannot give myself fully to Jesus because I know I will fail him!" I said, "Pablo you will fail him, that is why we need a savior, and the point is, Jesus will not fail you! Jesus will come and live in you and he will give you the strength and wisdom to live the way he has created you to be. You become a new creation in Christ Jesus and you renew the spirit of your mind through the word of God and the Holy Spirit.

After I talked with Pablo and the other men, Pastor Julio came and asked all the men in both cells who was ready to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. At that moment every man put up his hand!!!!! Pastor Julio lead them through a prayer to confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. As these men had their heads down with their eyes closed, they spoke these words and tears streamed down their faces. We all celebrated their restored relationship with God through Jesus. They were all so full of joy and celebration. Pablo was literally jumping up and down, the joy within him was bursting forth. It was beautiful to be a part of these men receiving the love of God through His son Jesus. Jesus did not come to judge the world but to save the world. Oh how he loves us all.........
Kim

Pablo and all his new brothers in the family of Christ Jesus.