Drug bust in the D.R.

At the center of
AIM’s mission trips is listening in prayer to God.  We actually take
time and ask God to speak to us in a specific way about our time.  I led
the team in this exercise one night and we paused in silence for about a
1 minute waiting for the Lord to speak to us.  As I went around the
circle asking each team member to share, Lydia’s vision stuck out to me.

She saw a bucket filled
with different colored pills being poured through a sifter.  But there
was only one pill that  made it all the way through.  This pill was then
picked up by a doctor and carried away.

Immediately I felt like
the Lord gave me the interpretation of the vision and I shared it with
the team.  I felt that the different kinds of pills represented all the
different ways we as people try to medicate ourselves through pain in
life.  Whether it be material things, relationships, or even actual
drugs.  I felt the doctor represented God and he picked up the only
thing that he trusted to give as medication – Jesus.

This was
all nice sounding but didn’t really mean much…until the following
morning.

I was walking around the community with Jeremy and our
translator Hector inviting children to the Vacation Bible School we were
putting on.  After some Holas and Como estas’s
we were invited into a house where we met Isidro.  He greeted us warmly
and was obviously excited to have us as visitors.  He kept going off in
Spanish like we were long lost friends.

I asked how old he
was. He said 75.  I said he seemed to be pretty healthy for his age and
had a lot of energy.  In return he started to talk about the chronic
stomach pains he has add for several years.  Then he left the room.  He
returned carrying a stuffed plastic shopping bag. I peered into it and
noticed it contained many different bottles and boxes of medications. 

He
said that he had tried all these different kinds of medication to
relieve his pain but to no avail.  At that point I think at heard an
audible bell dinging like I was on the Price is Right and had just won a
kitchen set.

With enthusiasm I explained to him about Lydia’s
vision and how I felt it was meant for him.  An excited “si si” was his
reply.  Hector, Jeremy and I laid hands on him and prayed for his
healing.  He praised the Lord after we finished praying, saying:

Gracias Senor!  Gracias Senor! 

The next day I went back with Hector and Lydia to check on
him.  He was excited to greet us and said he was feeling much better. 
We prayed for him again.  The follow day I found him on the street and
ask how he was doing.  He said he was feeling even better from from the
last day.  It was apparent to both of us that the Lord was healing him. 

It is times like these that make it all worth it.  I love
seeing people realize that they can hear from the Lord and seeing God’s
word come to pass.