Praying For Dorcas

Our team followed the muddy, uneven path lined by tall, emerald green palms, past bushes sporting scarlet red hibiscus flowers and on up the hill. We were headed to the home of Missionary Christine, a chaplain we’d met while ministering at the local hospital in Kimbe, Papua New Guinea (PNG).

We were living on and ministering out of YWAM Ships Kona’s vessel, the m/v Pacific Link. We hoped to bring the love of Jesus to the island of Kimbe, that lies northeast off the PNG mainland.

We arrived at Missionary Christine’s front yard, slightly out of breath and damp with sweat from the morning heat and humidity. The simple home, made of wooden planks, sat in a clearing above a cluster of other homes we’d seen on our way up. Christine, a single mom, shares her home with Naomi and Dorcas, two of her four children.

When we met fifteen-year-old Dorcas, she was sitting on the walkway jutting out from the house, holding her crippled left arm close to her body. Her left leg was twisted inward and her foot was pointing towards the right. Due to her disability, she was rarely able to leave her home and often spent lonely hours by herself while her mother and sister were out.

Dorcas had not only been born with twisted limbs, but with her left hand clenched into a fist and her head bent towards one shoulder. Over time, her hand has opened up and her head and neck have straightened out as well.

Christine asked us to pray for her daughter in faith that the Lord would  heal her completely. We gathered around Dorcas and began to intercede. When no visible results occurred after several minutes, we asked the Lord what we needed to do.

One team member felt we should put mud on her foot and hand. Another suggested we help her stand to see if she could walk. I sensed we needed to worship and exalt the Lord, so our guitarist began to strum as we sang along and continued to pray.

At one point, I felt led to read from the Bible, Acts 3:1-10, where God uses Peter and Paul to heal the lame beggar at the Beautiful Gate.

Before long, I began to sense that perhaps the Lord wanted to bring healing to Dorcas’s heart and soul first. When the guitarist and another team member began to sing a worship song with words that sounded like the native pidgin, I felt the urge to weep.

I went over to Dorcas and prayed again for her leg and foot. I placed my hand on her shoulder and asked that God would minster His love to her heart and show her how absolutely precious she was to Him.

Tears began to roll down my cheeks as I felt the deep compassion of Jesus for this young girl. The awareness of the sweet presence and love of the Savior surrounding us became stronger, as if He was enveloping the entire group surrounding Dorcas and wrapping His arms around her.

Dorcas began to weep as well. Her mother told me later that she had been weeping over the suffering in her life but Dorcas also told Christine that as we prayed for her, she felt as if God was touching her heart and lifting heaviness from her, loving her and telling her she was beautiful. She also felt as if some of her stiffened muscles had loosened up a bit.

Her testimony of what happened that morning confirmed that even though her leg remained deformed, all of our prayers had brought an increased measure of wholeness to her soul and spirit.

What a privilege to minister to this young woman!

By Cheryl Weber
YWAM Ships Kona Volunteer

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