The Power of a whisper

A Whisper that moved a mountain of my heart!

Sometimes small whispers can move the mountains of our hearts. I remember in my teens and twenties, needing to go to all the big worship nights and prayer meetings, because that is where I believed, mostly subconsciously, I would encounter Jesus. I am convinced that one of the reasons God has me in PNG is to remove the noise, so I can experience the incredible power of the Lord's whisper. I wouldn't be surprised if the Lord spoke "Let there be light" in a whisper.

This week I got to experience my own let there be light whisper. The last few weeks I have been fighting the Lion of Loneliness and the bear of Insecurity, sometimes both at once. My weapon of choice has been journaling and writing out the Bible. One morning I was journaling quietly, asking God to shape my heart, and lead me to green pastures and still waters, like Psalm 23. Declaring I am a sheep, and He is the Shepherd, and I don't want to try and do His job anymore. Then the next sentence turned to thankfulness, and in one whisper, I found myself rewriting my perspective of the last fifteen years of my life, looking at myself in a whole new light.

After a whisper, I went from insecurity to confidence. There was no crazy emotional outcry, no one praying some magical prayer, no incredible worship set. It was just a normal day with the Almighty God, and a whisper that shook the mountain of my heart.

That same whisper does not only show up in my own quiet moments with the Lord. Recently I watched it show up in someone else's story too.

Meet Joshua! He is twenty seven years old, an insulin dependent diabetic, living without electricity or running water in a village here in Madang Province.

Our team first found him because his mother flagged down three of our crew on the road, telling them her son was too sick to walk to the clinic we were hosting in their village last year. When they got to him, his foot had three deep ulcers from a recent surgery, he was almost out of antibiotics, and he had no way to test his blood sugar. His insulin was sitting in a mug of unfiltered water, the only way he had to keep it cold.

But what struck our team first was not any of that. It was his joy.

Before his surgery, Joshua told his own foot goodbye. He said he loved having it, but if Jesus told the surgeon to take it, he would be okay either way. He woke up with his whole foot intact.

Our medical team went back to the ship that night, packed supplies, and put together a food plan to help him heal. The next day they brought it to him, along with a plan for managing his insulin. And they prayed with him and his mother, twice, before they left the village.

Months later, not knowing what they would find, our team went back to check on him.

Joshua was standing in his doorway. On both feet. Shoes on. No crutches. Wounds healed.

He told them he had been baptized two months before, that he is in church now, that he is stronger than he has ever been. His faith has grown right alongside his healing.

He still needs test strips. He still needs ongoing care. But he is walking, he is smiling, and he is giving glory to God for all of it.

I went along not knowing what kind of story I was going to capture. It could easily have been one of grief and sorrow, but we serve a great God, and I got to capture these amazing images of hope and joy instead. I am so thankful I have the privilege to capture stories like this.

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Two whispers, in two very different places, both reminding me that God is never as far or as quiet as He seems.

Prayer Points

Pray for us on the Liberty as we gear up to start running clinics again, September through December. Stand with us as we welcome volunteers from all over the world to serve the people of PNG.

Pray for me as I prepare for a very busy season, that the Lord would continue to download creativity, and that I would lean on Him to sustain me through the stressful things that come up.

Pray that I would operate out of a place of dwelling with the Lord, and not running to the things of this world.

Proverbs 4:25 to 27 (ESV)

"Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil."

Thank you for your continued support and prayer. It is because of the people standing with me that I am able to be in PNG, doing what I am doing.