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Insight
(Dragonfly Ministries
President, Mary Hamrick)
April 2002
Last
month Von called me. She’s my childhood friend – I’ve known her since
I learned to walk. We kind of lost touch over the years, as I moved
away from home and we both began families. When I had surgery about
eighteen months ago, she came from South Carolina to care for me.
What a blessing to have this friendship renewed.
Von called
because her husband, Billy, has a health condition that continues to worsen.
The only medical option to improve his condition is surgery, though the
surgery will not improve his quality of life. When we see our loved
ones hurt, we hurt. That’s why Von was calling. She was hurting.
She shared
with me that she felt God leading her to call the preacher at her church
in Sharon, S.C. and ask him if he and the deacons would lay their hands
on Billy and pray for healing. I asked, “Von, why do you think that
it is God leading you to do that?” Von told me that over a period
of a few days, the lesson kept coming up in her quiet time with God, and
during her devotionals, her Bible Study, and at church services.
It seemed that all of the lessons were about when Jesus touched people
and they were healed, or about when the apostles of Jesus laid their hands
on sick people and they were healed. Calling the preacher weighed heavy
on her mind. With a little encouragement, Von stepped outside of
her comfort zone and called the preacher. She told him how God was
speaking to her and how she felt that the deacons were supposed to get
together and pray for Billy. The preacher heard Von's heart and felt
her hurt, and he scheduled a date and time for the prayer service.
I attended
this sweet church as a child. I’ve seen the faith among God’s people in
this congregation; I’ve felt their love and their total commitment to God.
I don’t know what the preacher said to the five or six active deacons of
the church. I don’t know how he communicated to the church that this
was going to take place. But at 5:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, March
24, 2002, when Billy expected five men to gather, he was overwhelmed when
about 18 men from the church gathered together to pray for him; eighteen
men that were active deacons, past deacons, men who loved God and wanted
to serve. Before these men prayed for Billy, they prayed for forgiveness
of sin in their own lives because they did not want to come before their
Holy God with any blemish in their lives. Then they laid their hands
on Billy, one by one, and prayed for his health, for his family, for his
healing. Billy told me, “The Holy Spirit was so present in the church
during this time. There was not a dry eye in the group. We
could feel God moving.”
Was Billy
healed from his medical condition? I don’t know yet. Did God
perform a work in the midst of those faithful men that night? I know
that He did. He brought together a group of men that love Him, that
wanted to serve and honor Him, and that desired to serve Him through praying
for their brother in Christ. God met them in their time of
need by sending the Holy Spirit to minister to them and to Billy.
They were each touched by the love of God and by the presence of His spirit.
Two weeks after the night of prayer, I received a note from Billy, saying,
"The effects of that Sunday are still moving in our church."
I know
that God is still in the miracle business. I know that He spoke to
Von because He had a purpose for those men gathering together on that night.
Maybe the purpose was to bring healing to Billy, and maybe the purpose
was to bring healing to a community that was hurting from recent tragic
events. Whatever God’s purpose, Von was obedient in talking to the
preacher; Billy was obedient in attending the service and letting those
men minister to him; the deacons and men of the church were obedient in
hearing God call them to the church that night to pray, and the preacher
was obedient in arranging the prayer time. God honors our obedience
by blessing our hearts and lives.
Whatever
God is asking us to do, whether it’s outside of our comfort zone or in
our homes, we need to take that leap of faith and allow Him to have His
way. We need to follow the example of this small church and simply
obey His call. We don’t always know “What He’s up to”, but believe
me, He always has something in store for us that is better than we could
ever imagine.
Thank
you, Von, Billy and Ben for allowing me to share this with readers.
Thank you, Sharon Baptist Church, for being a church that loves God and
desires to serve Him with all of your heart. You will always be my
home church.
God bless,
Mary
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