- Link to Story - Part I - My Story
- Link to Story - Part II - Aunt's Story
My uncle’s story is the final piece to this story, and what happened in
Preparation
The missions team was asked to prepare messages because the trip was going to be heavy on delivering sermons to local churches and gatherings. So my uncle studied and prayed and was given 3 messages from God to preach to the people of
He felt great. He was prepared, and while uneasy about leaving Grandma K at home, everything was in order and the call to go to
As a bit of background, my uncle is a serious man of faith and delivers very deep messages, be it in conversation or in the bible studies he led. He was confident in the word he had received from the Lord to bring to
And afterwards, the family was going to have a lovely family vacation, which they have not done in years, in
Day 1
Upon landing in
“I guess God is teaching me to have a measure of grace and patience for this trip”
That day, they visited a local church. A guest pastor was preaching in a very animated fashion, yelling and gesturing very loudly in English. He was quite annoyed at the spectacle and the speaker who seemed to be doing a lot just for show, and finally just tuned out.
And for about 1.5 hours, my uncle endured in quiet suffering. When it was over, he left relieved that he didn’t need to be subject to this man any longer.
That night the group visited a different local church. But unfortunately, the same guest pastor as the other church earlier in the day was there to preach.
Even more unfortunate was the fact that the guest preacher was preaching in French this time, and the interpreters and translators all were passionately yelling along with the preacher. And so it was even louder and more bombastic, and this time it went on for about 2 hours. And my uncle was really riled up at having people shout at him for 2 hours but again just decided to tune out.
At the end of the day the group got together and discussed how the day had gone. One of the leaders mentioned how they thought the guest pastor had gone on a little long.
Day 2
The missions trip was supposed to be about preaching and delivering sermons, but it quickly turned into a construction work trip and medical missions outreach. Instead of giving sermons, my uncle found himself moving heavy mud bricks and trying to control the crowds seeking healthcare.
News arrived that the bags had come so my uncle and two other team members returned to the airport, and after spending the entire day in jeans, which he had never worn since he had gotten married, he was quite pleased that he could finally change.
Unfortunately, when he arrived at the airport, only 5 of the remaining 20 bags had come. And the 1 bag that had come for his family was his daughter’s bag. All that was in it for him was some underwear, undershirt, shampoo and his razor.
“I guess God is really teaching me to have patience this trip.”
That night, the group got together again. They sensed something was wrong, and one of the leaders spoke. He had been convicted that what he had said earlier about the guest pastor going on a little long, was wrong and not of the spirit of God.
He said the Lord convicted him, saying “How dare you touch my anointed”
When my uncle heard that, he began to realize what his own problem was, and began to repent.
The week before
As the trip continued, there was no hint of delivering any sort of message or word to anyone. The missions was virtually exclusively construction, and medicine. My uncle is a corporate lawyer. He has nothing to offer in the field of medicine, and so he either continued to try to direct lines during medical outreach, or clean the large space they used including trying to get rid of a mouse, or did heavy manual labor.
But God began to unfold to him what was happening in his own heart and soul. The reason that God had withheld his bags, and even his clothes, was because of iniquity in the heart of my uncle. A spiritual pride to preach and be great in the kingdom of heaven.
Instead God sent forth my uncle’s undergarments and toiletries, because my uncle was not yet ready to be clothed with any righteousness of God, or any anointing spirit.
He had to be cleansed.
As my uncle finally understood, he repented. And of course his bag and clothes came the next day.
The day of
My uncle had been asked to give a couple brief talks in various settings as the trip wore on. But on Sunday, August 9, 2009, my uncle was asked to deliver a message to a local church. Including interpretation and translation, he would have 45 minutes to give a sermon.
My uncle thought, no problem. I go on for over an hour with my nephew’s bible study. 45 minutes with interpretation will be a piece of cake.
Of the 3 messages he had prepared, he felt particularly led to preach one of them in particular. From Ezekiel 37; the message of two sticks becoming one.
As he got up and delivered the word, he found that after 20 minutes, he just had nothing to say anymore. He was almost dumbfounded. Embarrassed, he just ended with a God bless and sat back down.
Afterwards, the senior pastor of the church got up to fill the rest of the time. But he was oddly excited. He got up and began to talk to the church
“If you were here 5 days ago, you would understand that the message preached then was the exact same message as the one preached now. It was indeed a prophetic word.”
But my uncle didn’t quite see it like that. He said that it was as if a wrecking ball had been taken to ego and cleared of everything that was there. He had been so confident in his preaching, and his anointing, and all he could muster was 20 minutes, including interpretation. And it wasn’t even new.
But a strange thing happened. As God broke down and cleared out my uncle’s heart and soul, my uncle became free. He didn’t quite understand it, but he was free.
He always thought that, just a little bit, he was special. His knowledge, his understanding of the word, the depth of his faith, the anointing he had received. But God told him right then and there, that God was not a respecter of men, but a lover of all. God loves him not because my uncle is special, but precisely because he is not.
The night of
Immediately, my uncle thought to himself, “oh no, something has gone wrong with my mother in law”
When he got in touch with the missions department, it was the first message that had been sent to him. That there was a possible kidney match for grandma K.
Stunned, my uncle thought. Could this be? Could this possibly be? That on the day that I preached Ezekiel 37 to the people of Burundi, that the very same Ezekiel 37, the prophetic word that was delivered to my wife 2 years ago, about dry bones becoming flesh, would be fulfilled in my own household? On the very same day?
Then he thought, no, no way. That can’t be. We’ve had a false alarm before about a possible kidney match. It’s not going to happen. Besides, we have to go to
So he shared the news with his family, gave me his contact information, and went to bed without hearing back from me.
Past
At around
“Hey samchon (uncle), the kidney is a match. We are going to the hospital right now”
Pause.
“Ok.”
“Ok.”
It wasn’t a possibility. It was a reality.
Back in the
The trip was cut short, and there was no vacation in
“Oh! I was praying for you”
“Oh. That’s great! Thank you.”
“No, no. I mean as I was praying, I saw you. And you had stood up to preach, but you stood there helpless, because you lacked the power to preach. And so I prayed for you”
Again, stunned at all the pieces that were in motion. That God would use a woman from back in the states to pray for his heart to open, that he could even deliver that one sermon from the heart of God.
And as he delivered that sermon, pieces were set into motion to restore Grandma K.
Grandma K
When my uncle went to see Grandma K a few days after the surgery, she looked remarkably well. My uncle said that there was a supernatural life that was sustaining her, and that it wasn’t possible for an 81 year old woman to look like this and have this much energy after a major surgery.
It was to the point where K said she was fine and didn’t need morphine or any pain killers for 5 days. No pain killers for 5 days after a kidney transplant surgery.
As the supernatural anointing was lifted, Grandma K came back down to earth, at home, and began the recuperation process that she is still undergoing today. But day by day she is getting stronger, and the kidney is functioning properly and she’s off dialysis. She’s able to eat just about anything she wants, and her cognition is becoming clearer.
And without a doubt, she is restored to living flesh, and is a living testimony of God’s mercy, power and promise.
No comments:
Post a Comment