There was a lot of excitement when the main mother who Bethany Home has been supporting for the last year decided she wanted to be a part of the Discipleship Training School, and a lot of excitement when she stood up and introduced herself to a group of 25 students and staff, saying that she was there because she wanted to learn about God and receive healing/revival in her spirit. She wanted so desperately to learn about the God who had been reaching into her life for the last year. This was going to be 4 months of rest for her to receive healing and learn about God before going back out into the real world again, a place of refuge and restoration.
Before she came to join the DTS, she was supposed to come earlier and many things happened that stopped her from coming - but she triumphed these things and we were excited. Then the first 2 days of lectures happened, and on the second day she was already feeling emotional and like something was stirring up. God was beginning to work. However, her baby started to feel feverish. Then, that afternoon, word reached her from her community that she shouldn’t be there with us and wasting time - she should be trying to make money - even though she already had her physical needs cared for during the DTS (housing, food, milk and nappies for her baby). She agreed with this advice, and while taking her motorbike out to borrow money from a friend, she was stuck in a rainstorm and had a minor accident which hurt her leg, but deeply discouraged her soul. She decided she couldn’t do the DTS anymore. There was too much going against her.
Every visit with her, every prayer time within our team, every individual prayer time with God, revealed that a large part of her still wanted to do DTS but there was something holding her back. This was a matter of salvation, and something didn’t want her to receive all that God had to give her. We needed to pray and allow God to work. So we prayed.
And prayed. And prayed.
She couldn’t give us an answer as to whether she was going to continue with DTS or not, because she wanted to but there were so many lies and fears that were holding her back.
And we are still praying. This time, we won’t go to her house to encourage her to fight for what she wants. If she doesn’t turn up to lectures on Monday (16th), we will let her go. Of course, the Bethany Home ministry will still reach out to her and stand beside her (as long as she stays here in Ubon, which isn’t certain), but she would have missed the opportunity to receive what God wanted her to receive in these 4 months, and we will be grieving that for her…because God will be grieving that for her.
So, please pray for me, for us, as we give her the freedom to make the decision, even if it’s a decision where she turns herself further away from God. Please continue to pray for her too, that God would reveal himself to her and that she will come back and receive all that He wants for her.
