The outreach of my Discipleship Training School was a time where God challenged me to step out in boldness, faith, and most importantly love.
Before we left for our adventurous outreach, God really began to speak to me about “stopping for the one.” No matter what country we would be in or what we would be doing, He encouraged me to have eyes to see the one He was placing in front of me. I had many amazing encounters when I opened my heart to those God wanted me to talk with. Some of these included a guy sitting next to me on the airplane, an old lady sitting on a park bench, and many more along our trip.
It is so easy to see past these seemingly small moments as we long to see big things happen, but God constantly reminded me of how much He loves each individual we came in contact with, and to understand that those moments are so very important to Him.
One encounter I remember so clearly, and will probably never forget, was on a very hot day in India. We met up with a bunch of other outreach teams serving in the surrounding areas of Calcutta to worship and pray together, share testimonies, and evangelize. Our group went out into the streets to set up an area where we would perform skits and share testimonies with anyone who would watch. About 10 minutes after we started, we were asked to stop performing, but we didn’t let that discourage us; instead we decided to go talk and pray with the people who had gathered to watch.As I was looking around, I saw this man sitting on the ground way down an alley we were near.
I instantly felt this strong faith welling up inside of me, and I knew we had to go over to Him.
He was shriveled up, holding a sign, and waiting for somebody to notice him. I found one of our translators and we went over and started a conversation with him.
This man had been paralyzed from birth and had never taken a step in his life. His legs were so tiny beneath him, it almost appeared he didn’t have any at all. As we shared the gospel with him and asked if we could pray for a miracle, he very quickly agreed.
In the middle of our prayers, he stopped us and asked if he could try to walk! Together, the two of us took him by the arms and slowly pulled him up to his feet. He had a very hunched back, but as we prayed it began to straighten. Still weak, he asked us to lower him back to the ground, so we prayed some more.
Not giving up, he asked us a second time to help him up because he wanted to try to walk again. This time he took his very first steps! Both my translator and I began to cry and kept praying fervently for the Lord to completely heal him.
By the end of our time, he had walked across the street and back with very little assistance.
A crowd gathered of about 40 people who had seen him sitting there day after day, just like in the book of Acts. He once was lame, but now he was healed! We got to preach the gospel to all the people and share how this was not our doing, but the very power and love of the One True God!
It was amazing to see God move so powerfully day after day as we stopped for the ones God placed in our path. We encountered many salvations, people healed, and lives changed just through stepping out in faith and saying hello to someone.
I encourage you, no matter where you go throughout your day, to ask God to show you these ones that He will place in your path. You never know what could come from a simple hello or an encouraging word to someone that you see.
Written by: Amber Houvener
