Special time for Shannon with Horacio

Thursday of this week I had the incredible opportunity to visit with Horacio again. This time it was just Keren, myself, and Rick and we were going with the intention of sharing with him about the love of Jesus. Normally I work with Christians and so it isn't an every day occurrence for me to really share from my heart about the God that I love. At least not with the hope that they will embrace Him for the first time. This time, I went there hoping beyond hope that he would want to know Jesus because I knew he was suffering and in deep need of the Savior. We arrived and were warmly greeted again by this amazing family. Families here seem to include the entire village and often times when we meet with Horacio there are various family members present and it isn't always easy to tell who is who. On this day, everyone came to listen to what we were talking with him about. We arrived and he was laying on a mat outside his mother's hut with a couple of blankets over top of him. Not comfortable for a man in his condition but I thought perhaps that the fresh air felt good to him and so I thanked God for the sunshine and prayed that it would make his body warm.

We sat along one side of him on small benches or stumps carved into chairs. The family was surrounding us. Keren spoke with them through Rick about his medical condition and once this was complete I was asked to share with him what I had come to say. I was nervous and afraid. This was so important...perhaps the most important words that would ever come out of my mouth. I had prayed all along that they would not be my words but God's words so I hadn't really prepared anything. I started out telling him that I had been thinking about him since we last met and how I could best help him. I told him that I was not a nurse and so could not help him in this way but that I knew of someone who could help him. I then told him about the Lord and how just like he is a father who loves his child, God is our Father and he loves us even beyond how much he loves his child. As our Father, he doesn't desire for us to suffer and so he has created a place for us where there is no suffering and there is no pain. I spoke about a few things but before I could get very far he wanted us to pray. I was taken a back but I don't claim to know God's plan and so I prayed.

I wanted so much for Horacio to understand and to seek God but as Rick says...this life with God isn't so much about a day and a time but rather it is a journey towards Him. We in North America like to nail it down to a specific moment or this big magical experience but it often isn't that at all. After I prayed Rick spoke and told of his brother who had suffered for many years until the Lord took him home and how he now has confidence that he is in heaven with Jesus and now he is strong and can dance again! I could see a change coming for Horacio and the entire family was agreeing as he spoke. I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be there at this moment in time to watch him work and to perhaps be some of God's words and His hands to Horacio. After Rick spoke we again prayed for Horacio and I count this one of life's greatest privileges. I don't think I will ever think of prayer in the same way again. It is an honor to come before my God and to know he hears not only my words but my hearts desire. I desire more than anything for Horacio to know God intimately and for him to no longer suffer.

After the prayer we had a chance to show the family some exercises for them to do with him to help with circulation etc... As I knelt at this man's feet and touched them gently I realized that his feet were so cold. After my father's stroke I would often rub his poor cold feet and it would make them feel so much better. It was one of the ways I could really show him I loved him. God prompted me to do the same for Horacio, to show him love just as I had shown my Dad so I leaned over and held his cold feet in my hot hands and began to rub them a little. I took each one and held them and smiled my brightest smile. I wanted to, in some tangible way to show him I cared about his suffering and so does our Heavenly Father.

While I can't be sure Horacio has made a decision to follow Jesus, I do know that God gave me a true sense of peace that day. I know God heard our prayers and knows his heart. Today we visited him again and that same sense of peace was there. Before when I would look into Horacio's eyes I saw nothing but despair. Total despair. Instead today there was this brightness to his eyes that wasn't there before. As we emerged from his hut Heather pointed out a huge rainbow that was overhead. The colors were so bright! We all felt that this was sent to us for this time. I don't believe Horacio will be with us long and my heart is deeply grieving for his wife and little child and the rest of his family. He is so young. But I rejoice in the knowledge that God sees our hearts and knows us intimately. He knows Horacio and I pray I will see him in heaven, strong and dancing!

Shannon