On our first Sunday at Vida Abundante, Craig got an opportunity to share at the evening church service. He shared on love, value and surrender. Many were touched and God’s love was poured out.
After the service we met with Safehouse men and longterm missionaries to pray, then go to the streets for some night ministry. This was definitely a highlight as well as an eye and heart opener for us. Many things both broke our hearts and brought us joy. We were reaching out to wonderful people who found themselves trapped in drug addiction, prostitution and homelessness. This is a regular heart ministry of Abundant Life and, through time invested, they have established great trust among this community by simply loving and spending time with them. This night it was our privilege to join them.
We went through three different locations – the boulevard down by the river, the market stalls in Belen (an extremely marginalised community) and the drug dens at Secada. At each location, the Safehouse men played their drums and worshipped as we all gathered around in unity and prayer. We invited Holy Spirit to draw and touch hearts as we sang praises to our King. Our main aim was to love, pray and support as much as we could as we knew we were only there for a night.
Because of the upcoming festivities of Christmas the boulevard was busy and filled with all sorts of music and people at the night markets. While the team were busy meeting and praying for passer-bys, Craig and I got a chance to pray for an 18-year old girl who looked like a frail 6-year old bound to her wheel chair since birth. While we did not see her get up and walk in complete healing, I could see that her eyes were responding to His love as we sang to her.
Some of the sights at the empty Belen market stalls broke our hearts as we saw addicts and what looked like entire families (with vey young children) sprawled out on the market tables. We joined with the local ministry team and ushered in Holy Spirit’s presence as we walked by and prayed for deliverance and restoration. Some people, familiar with the ministry, came out to join us in worship and we got to love and pray for some of them.
We arrived at our last location, Secada, after midnight and were pretty tired as we had been out since 9pm. However we broke through the tiredness and this was the place we felt God’s presence the most. It was also the place we got to spend the most time engaging and communicating what was on our hearts through the help of interpreters. Secada is a place where many addicts consume drugs in dark houses or dens and hideaway from life. Our leaders expressed much love for the people there and it was evident that they had carried these people on their hearts for a long time. It was sad to know that some of the men we spoke to had once been in the Safehouse but because of stray choices, ended back up on the streets. They had tasted and seen that He is good, so they knew the words to the songs and one even had a tattoo ‘Jesus, King of Kings’ on his arm. Still, we know that God’s love never fails and nothing is impossible for Him.
Throughout the night it seemed easy to see how God could love the ‘least of these’. Simply beautiful people who believed lies about who they are and have been robbed by circumstances/addiction. At times we felt restrained by our limited spanish and wished that we knew so much more, however, we knew that God was there and His heart’s desire to see them free would overcome our limitations.
It brought us great joy to see some of the men we prayed for say that God is a good God and that He loves us. Even with language barriers we could tell that they were impacted by God’s relentless love.
~D
