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