Once a week, my team walks to a very poor neighborhood down the street from the church we’re staying at. While in the neighborhood, we visit different houses and offer to pray for the people living in them. Since starting this ministry during week one, my group has visited the same house every time. The family has a 10-year-old son named Juan Carlos, and he was born with several mental and physical disabilities, which has put him in a wheel chair for his whole life.
When I met Juan Carlos for the first time, I became emotional because I felt so heartbroken for his situation and for the sorrow I thought surrounded it all.
We’re now in our third week here, so yesterday was the third time we’ve been to this house to pray. However, this time was different than the first. His mom told us that he had been asking all week where the girls who prayed for him were, and that in itself was enough to fill me with emotion. Later into the conversation, we discovered that Juan Carlos really enjoyed music and that he loved to sing. At that point, it was pretty much a given that we would start singing for him. I immediately suggested “Jesus Loves Me.” As soon as the 5 of us “gringos” started singing, this little boy’s face lit up with so much joy and happiness that it was impossible to keep a smile off of my own face. His somber composure changed as he began clapping along, and I was brought to tears again, but this time for different reasons.
I wasn’t crying because I was sad for Juan Carlos, but because God allowed me to see Juan Carlos through His eyes. God was able to show me just how deep and how wide He loves this little boy. With tears welling up in my eyes and a deep peace within my own heart, I witnessed how joyful Juan Carlos truly is, even with disabilities and a poverty-stricken lifestyle. This experience left me feeling as though the scales had fallen from my eyes like they did for Paul, in that I was given the chance to see God’s people from His perspective. “And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight.” – Acts 9:18.
Because of this, my ability to love people like Jesus has been radically changed. The fact that I was able to use my gift of singing to add to Juan Carlos’ happiness was so gratifying. There are no words to explain how deeply I was touched by this experience, but I just thank God for the opportunity. If my main purpose in being called to Costa Rica was to simply sing and pray for this little boy, I will praise God.
