When Satan Follows

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”-I Peter 5: 8-9

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Mbabane Public Hospital to spend the day blessing the patients there. It was the first time I had been back there since July. Before we walked in I asked the Lord to break my heart for these people and give me the strength to get through it. As I walked through the front doors everything started to look familiar. Something in me started recalling all that I had seen there this past summer and I froze. Tears started welling up in my eyes. As the rest of the team walked in with purpose I just stood their trying to figure out what to do. Finally I just pulled myself towards the children’s ward and thought I would start there. I stood outside the rooms staring in the windows praying for what the Lord wanted me to do. I just felt so out of place and uncomfortable. I remembered the small boy I had seen in July that was abandoned and body was swollen from malnourishment. He wasn’t there. I started to wonder if he had survived or not. I stood there trying to figure out what to do. I decided to head to the women’s ward. As I walked in I remembered the women I had prayed for and the attack I felt as I almost passed out on the floor. It was so surreal. I started praying that God would help me and show me what He wanted me to do there.

As I walked through the women’s ward looking at the skinny women who were lying sick in the hospital beds, this one woman saw me and her face lit up with a huge smile as if we were long lost friends. I went up to her and started talking to her. She was recovering from a stroke. I talked to her for a while and prayed for her. I was encouraged after speaking to her and all of a sudden my heart was at peace with being there. I prayed for another lady in the ward and then felt led to head back to the children’s ward. As I looked through the windows my heart broke for these kids. They all seemed so helpless and many were on their death beds. I saw this one little girl whose head was enlarged and wrapped in bandages. I walked into see her and met her grandmother who was sitting with her. The grandmother spoke fairly good English and explained to me that the child had huge warts on her head that were causing her head to swell. She had them removed and some sort of tube was put in from her head down through her chest to help with the fluid. She went on to tell me that the child’s mother had abandoned her when she saw that the child was born with this disorder and she never knew the father. The grandmother took her and her brother in and now is taking care of 10 kids alone. We talked for a while and I found out she was a Jehovah Witness. We spoke some about what she believed compared it to the truths of the Bible. She asked me to come back the next week when she could be more prepared. At the time we had no transportation because our van was broke. I told her I would try but knew the possibility was slim since I would have no way to get there. I prayed for her and her granddaughter and told her goodbye.

As I walked out of the hospital I was so convicted for this woman and the opportunity that the Lord had set before me. The next week came and I still had no transportation. I decided to take one of my team members with me and we headed back to Mbabane on public transportation. I was praying that the woman would still be there. We got to the hospital and sure enough she was still there. The bandage had been removed from her granddaughter’s head and they were leaving the next day to go home. She smiled in shock as I walked in. She said that she didn’t think I would come back. It hurt me to hear that because so many times it is easy to forget the people we meet. I told her that I was thankful I was able to and I wanted to speak to her more about heaven and the Bible. I sat with her on the floor next to her granddaughter’s bed. We sat and talked for about an hour. She had great questions and was a woman who truly just wanted to know and understand the truth. You could see the hunger in her to know more. By the end of our conversation she said that she wanted me to write down all of the verses that I had read so she could go and study them and truly understand. I was excited because God just spoke His words through me when I didn’t always know what to say. As I sat there on the floor with her I started taking it all in. I looked around at the paint coming off the walls, the dirty counters and the small roaches that crawled all around us. All I kept getting was that this was what it was all about. This is where Jesus would be. Normally roaches bother me and I really dislike insects but for that hour it really didn’t bother me. God gave me the strength I needed. I left the verses with her as well as a prayer of salvation for her when she was ready. She asked me to leave my phone number so she could call me with questions. I was excited at the prospect of hearing from her again. We prayed and I left to head back to Manzini. I was overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness.

As I got off the bus we were walking through the traffic headed towards home and all of a sudden I feel this man grab me and start hanging on my back. I could tell he was ripping open my backpack. I turned and grabbed his arm and yelled at him to stop. I looked in his hand and didn’t see anything so I let him go. He looked me dead in the eye and walked off. It gave me chills all over my body. I then turned to look in my bag and realized that he had stolen my phone. I tried to go after him but he had already disappeared into the crowd. I just stood there not knowing what to do and then it hit me that he had just taken the number that I had given this woman that I had spent the whole morning witnessing to. She now had no way to contact me. Not only did I feel violated but my heart was broken that I had no way to contact her. The rest of the day was pretty hard. I kept going through my mind of how I could have changed the situation or gotten my phone back. Thinking back through I realized how much worse it could have been because my wallet and ipod were right under my phone. If I wouldn’t have grabbed his arm he probably would have gotten those as well. He also could have hurt me worse. It was blatantly clear to me that Satan had used that man that day. It was as if I had seen Satan in the flesh. Satan’s biggest fear is that more people will come to know Christ. Because of this, he is going to do anything he can to stop it. I have to trust that God is bigger than all of that and that His word does not return void. I know God is going to use the verses that were shared to speak truth into her life and hopefully she will come to know Him as her Savior.

Through this entire thing God has shown me how important it is to know and share His Word. I want people to know that they can have hope. This world is not all that there is. God has more waiting for those who accept Him and give their lives to Him. When I was younger I always used to think that if I gave my life to God that I wouldn’t have fun anymore and life would be boring and torturous. What I now realize is that true freedom in this life can’t come until we give our lives to Him. That is what we were created for so until we hand the reigns of our life over to Him, we will always be living a life that is not completely full.

God is working here in Swaziland. Thank you all for your prayers. I feel prayers more tangibly here than ever in my entire life. God has healed the fungus on my hand and my tooth is getting better. God is stretching me every day, but I know it is for His greater plan so I will keep fighting the fight. Keep the prayers coming. Love to you all from the Kingdom of Swazi.

For His Glory,

Caroline 🙂

Ps. 56:3