He dreamed he was healed when the lightning struck him - Then it happened!

Miracles In Sarangani        

Mar 2012

  We are travelling with Pastora (that’s what they call female pastors here) Margie, who we had met in Surallah at the ‘March for Jesus’ she invited us to go to a school to talk to 100 selected poorest of the poor pupils. These children were from the outlying villages and were very poor indeed. Most of them had to walk many kms to get to school and would not eat all day as their parents were too poor to give them any food. George warmed them all up and had them laughing whilst he told them about Jesus. I prayed for a little boy who had limited sight in his right eye and we both prayed for a 12 year old girl who had been raped by her cousin. Poor little thing she had no joy in her and sadly this is a situation that is rife here in the Philippines as many places are under the control of the wicked one. George gave a short testimony of when he was 6 years old and his Mum and Dad were fighting and he called out to God and He answered him. Many of the children were nodding in agreement as violence in families due to drink and drugs is prevalent here. They enjoyed the big bread muffins we gave them and the principal invited us back so hopefully that school may be the venue of a crusade in the future.

          After the school Margie took us to a village which was close by. George again spoke a word to the children and the mothers. Unfortunately few men were there as they leave the village during the day to try and find some work. We prayed again for a little boy’s sight. We see that again and again here that eyes are affected. Bad nutrition is the likely culprit as whether you are poor or rich healthy eating is not a lifestyle here in the Philippines. We gasp at some of the stuff they put in their mouths. Fried, heavily coloured, white rice at every meal, heavily loaded with sugar. I have yet to see a piece of wholemeal bread, well not in Mindanao anyway. The most popular snack here is three pieces of white bread glued together with a heavily processed spread of an unknown origin. Fortunately we try to have at least one coconut per day, we drink the water and try and eat the flesh. Thank you Lord for The Tree of Life!!

          The next day we connected up with a couple called Richard and Annette and their little girl Faith. He is a teacher at the Assembly of God bible school in General Santos and their heart is to minister to the tribal people The village we were expected at was about 25kms outside of General Santos and 30 minutes trek up a mountain. Treading carefully in case a rogue snake lunges out at us ha ha!! Manoeuvring round large caribou which are lying on the small track we make it into the village. Sweating profusely knowing that air conditioning is not an option and having left my life saving hand fan in the hotel we make our way to the makeshift church.

          Little faces start to emerge, peeking out at us shyly. More and more people start to gather and fill the church over the next half an hour. All glory to God that the church exists but Richard tells us that the people lack encouragement. The pastor tries to cope but white people rarely venture into the village so it is an insurmountable task for a man or a woman who has barely had any teaching or mentoring themselves.

           Amazingly the bamboo & banana leaf church is filled to capacity and many faces are eager to know what the white people will share. It is amazing for me as before I got saved, standing in front of people and speaking used to offset a panic attack in me.  George is also an example to me as he will preach an anointed word with no notes. He relies on the Holy Spirit. At the moment I just give a short word more or less to introduce myself but half the time I haven’t got a clue what I am going to say until minutes before I get up there. I know He is with me and that is the vast difference.
           After George spoke with an interpreter he asked if anybody needed healed from sicknesses. About 30 came up – gulp! Along with Richard we both prayed with them all for the healing of their sicknesses and George also prophesised over many. When the question was asked again “if any received instant healing” about 25 hands went up. Not sure if they understood George asked the question more clearly “did anyone experience a healing miracle during prayer” All the same hands went up again. “Ok, then can we have some testimonies, shyly they all deferred to each other till eventually 2 of these very reclusive mountain people agreed to share their miracle healing experience.

           One old lady whose eyesight had been very dim for years said that after the prayer she could immediately see clearly again. The other account came from a man who said that he had been asking the pastor for 2 months for healing prayer since had bad appendicitis pain; he was worried it would get worse and he had no money to cover medical fees. But, last night he had had a dream where his body was struck by lightning and the pain from his appendicitis disappeared. But, when he woke up he was disappointed that the pain was still there but he testified that during the prayer in the church it felt exactly like the dream when the lightning went through him and the pain left instantly. He was smilingly as he shared he was now completely pain free!! The Lord is so merciful and compassionate.

          We distributed biscuits to everybody, Richard was presented with a live chicken with its legs tied (no squawking whatsoever, a very placid chicken under the circumstances ha ha!!) and we made our way back down to the track and to civilisation as they all waved and shouted their goodbyes. In the afternoon we had a meeting with many pastors about organising large crusades here in Mindanao. The time is ripe for Mindanao, the fields are white to Harvest Hallelujah!!

          In the evening George attended a youth meeting back in Koronandal, I will let him take up the story and outcome............