Prospective

This week I have spent a lot of time with some of our converts. Bismark and Matilda have been saved and are trying to follow the Lord. This last few weeks their son has been very sick and we have gone to pray for him off and on.

On Monday, their son Benedict was taken to the main city hospital because was vomiting and could not move his legs. After two days in the hospital and many prayers; still nothing had changed. I finally talked to one of the younger doctors and asked if they had done any tests for meningitis. She told me that she was newly given the case, but would see about doing some test for it.

The following day the test came back positive for meningitis. Currently he is in the hospital taking the medications.

One of the amazing parts has been the spiritual conflict involved and also the great grace and faith that has been seen in the parents lives. Bismark told me on Friday that he was very concerned. Some of the people that live in the surrounding area of the new Bible study had said that their were going to curse his family or his wife. He knows that God is stronger, but really wanted us to pray. So after talking to the doctor, we went back to their house. On the way he told us that he was thinking about letting Benedict move to his sister-in-laws house, since he did not want anyone to hurt him again. I have been praying for their faith to hold, so that those that do not want the Word of God to increase will not see this as a victory.

At the house we talked and prayed together. We pray and looked over the house. Here many times when people wants to curse others they will place items that have been charmed in the house or around it. For this reason we checked it inside and outside very well. After seeing that nothing physical was there, we prayed and committed the house and each person living in it to the Lord. We asked God to be pleased with all the things that happened their, and also to make Bismark's family a light to the people around them.

Many people are watching right now. People know that others have claimed to curse the family, so this is not just about a little boy being sick, it is a test to see which power is stronger. There are about 10 adults that have been hearing the gospel in this area, and they need to see that Christ is the Almighty God.

Today Benedict seems to be doing much better. Many people around the world are praying and many people in Ghana are praying.

Yesterday Bismark today me this. When we were talking together he told me that he had to praise God. I asked what he meant and this is what he said. "Well, I was feeling sad about Benedict and asking God why, when I started to look around at all the other very sick children. The one man that has a sick son, that shares a bed with Benedicta (here the hospitals are over crowded and most beds have two children on them at a time), has been sick for months. His father has had to use his own blood for a transfusion and his son cries and is in pain all the time. Other children are crying, shacking, and in great pain. Pastor though my son is sick, he is not suffering so much like these other children. I had to thank God for His goodness." After this he told me a very interesting Africa story to make it clear.

He said, "A man was sad one day. His life was, he felt, horrible. Everything was going wrong. So he decided that the only course of action was to kill himself. After some time of thinking, he resolved that this was what the would do, and so got a rope and began to go out to the bush to hang himself. As he walked along the path which would reach the big tree were he wanted to kill himself he saw a crazy man coming. Up the path between the man and the crazy man was a large mud hole that they would both have to pass over to keep going on their journeys. As the man thought of what to do, the crazy man stopped at the mud hole. There he knelt down and began to laugh and praise. He keep saying, "Thank you God, thank you God", as he knelt down and lapped the water. The man was shocked. Here was a crazy man that had nothing, and could be happy for dirty water, and he wanted to kill himself. The man throw down his rope, and turned around and went home. Life was not so bad after all."

God has given me a lot of good prospective this week. I have seen that everything should be prayed about because people are always watching and Christ's testimony is important. I have seen that God's people no matter how young can learn and see the greatest truths. I have seen that even in the darkest hours, God's Spirit can shine His light of hope into the saddest heart. Lets thank God for these times of proper prospective.