Hope Shifts

I remember watching Steve Martin's movie "Leap of Faith" and being wowed by the power of the ending. Sorry but to tell the story I must tell you a bit of how it ends. Martin was a flamboyant salesman who acted as a traveling healer/preacher. His crew would set up a big tent revival in cities all over the US and then scam people out of their money and trust by manipulating healings.

But one day it happened. Martin got close to a young boy who had a serious illness and wanted to be healed...he wanted to walk. Martin refused but the boy insisted and demanded to come forward. And God did a miracle. The boy walked. The boy ran. He was free. Steve Martin couldn't handle it. He left town in tears because he knew that he had seen "the real thing." This boy's prayer of faith had healed him. There was no manipulation. No smoke and mirrors. Just the power of God.

On Tuesday morning (I think) in our group's devotional time we spent a huge amount of time asking for God to make Himself known to us. In the middle of it, I prayed that we would see a miracle that day. And for the first time maybe in my life, I prayed expecting God to actually do it.

Well the day went on and we were so overwhelmed with the little miracles that God was doing in us, I did not even think about my morning prayer. The next morning at breakfast though revealed THE REAL THING.

There is another group here that is filled with people that have been here a lot. They are an awesome group. They told me the story of their day, the day we prayed for a miracle.

They have grown to love a toddler here named Selma who came in off the streets about 18 months ago (I think). They sponsor this little girl and they were saddened to find out that she was not here anymore. A little while ago, her aunt came and got her to give her a new life and to take care of her. While the group was being told this, another Mexican child came up and told them, "That is not entirely true. I saw Selma in the dump the other day. She is not well." Apparently the aunt walked out of TCM and handed Selma back to the mom, who is "working the streets" near the dump. Selma had been living in the most despicable conditions with mom, dad and several other men too. They were all users and mom was the money-maker with her nighttime job.

When the group heard this, they boldly declared, "we're going to find her." So they loaded in the van, grabbed Jesse the local mecahanic who knows things and people and headed to the dump. In this huge city, they found her! Mom came out from the house (shack really) without any teeth, black shards in their place and reaking from her living situation. They offered her money to begin a new life and pleaded to take Selma back to TCM. That is when dad came out, ready to spew fire. But one of the group members just looked at him calmly, waved her hand at him ala Obi Wan Kenobi and he actually just walked away. That's when the group asked mom to leave right now with them with Selma. Mom apparently looked over her shoulder and then sprinted for the van. The group took off after her, they yelled at Jesse to start the van and then they peeled out of the dump before dad and the other men could chase them down. Mom came to the women's shelter and Selma came to the arms of Martha and her incredible staff here at TCM.

As they were telling this story, Selma came into the dining room. (Todd has a picture of her being hugged at the table in an earlier post). Our eyes were filled with tears as we saw her.

That's when Beth turned to me and said, "didn't you pray for a miracle yesterday?"

God is the real thing. His power is perfect. His desire to rescue His world has to break his heart everyday and yet, when His people pray, God allows us to see how his tears lead to restoration.

Pray expectently today. Are you ready for a miracle?