If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat

It was a Thursday afternoon, and a small group of us were walking along a dirt path to a nearby homestead, being accompanied by groups of joyful and laughing children along the way. Once we reached our destination, we spent the next few hours visiting with a family that consisted of a couple and their children and grandchildren.

My heart broke when I saw these people and the conditions they lived in. Their shelter consisted of a hut made out of sticks and mud, they owned two cows, and both the man and woman had serious injuries that prevented them from going anywhere. Through a translator, they shared some of their struggles with us; their hut was falling apart and they didn’t have enough money to build another one, and they were hoping their son could get a job so he could help pay for a new hut. They were also worried they were going to starve because their crops weren’t any good this year, and that was their main source of food. 

In small groups, we laid hands on the man and the woman and prayed for healing for their injuries. We prayed for the woman’s knee and the man’s shattered shin bone. Afterward, we prayed as a large group, and I held onto the woman’s hand. I remember she squeezed my hand so hard it hurt. Even though there seemed to be no hope for this family, I sensed so much hope in that woman’s hand-squeeze. Despite the lack of food and shelter, there was no lack of faith present at that homestead. The man’s smile was never-ending and so contagious that I could not help but smile myself. These people found joy amidst their struggles, and that in itself was an encouragement to me. It made me think of Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:4 when he said,

“I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles, my joy knows no bounds.”

Now that is crazy faith.

After giving them food and supplies and saying our final goodbyes, we began our journey back home. As I was walking home, I remember thinking, Man, I really want to heal someone in Jesus’ name. I began praying that prayer over and over throughout the rest of the trip; that God would show me how big He is, and let me tell you, He hears and answers prayers. 

A few weeks after our encounter with the family, we saw the woman at church on the last Sunday before we left to go home. We were talking to her after the service, and through a translator, she informed us that her knee was no longer in any pain- the knee that we had laid hands on and prayed over! She also told us that her husband was able to walk again, as he couldn’t before. The woman was so happy, and we gave her a SiSwati Bible because she didn’t have one, and we also gave her a picture of us that we had taken on the day we visited her. True joy was felt that day.

This story is one of my favorites from my two months in Swaziland. While in Africa, God showed up in so many ways. He taught me so much about the authority that I have as a child of God, and He showed me what it looks like to take hold of my identity in Him and walk in it with confidence and boldness. Although God did not heal that woman immediately after we prayed over her, He did eventually heal her and her husband. I was quickly reminded that it was not me that healed them, but God’s power in me. What a pleasure it is to be used by the Almighty God!

“For we are co-worker’s in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:9

If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat.

This is one lesson that I learned over the past two months. Trusting and relying on God to show up when I needed Him to is something that I did often, and God always showed up. However, we must be willing to step out in faith and boldness in order for Him to do so. It is so true that in order for God to use us, we have to make ourselves available. 

My trip to Swaziland stretched me in ways I never believed I could be stretched. There were times that I felt uncomfortable, and times that I felt weak. During one of my quiet times, God revealed to me some important truths. God has taken away my comfort because He wants to be my comfort. God has taken away my strength because He alone wants to be my strength. It’s a scary and beautiful thing when we learn to rely on Jesus for everything, but the growth that comes from it is beyond amazing.