I'm unashamed to admit that last Monday night - Valentine's Day was the absolute best and most beautiful Valentine's Day of my entire life. Yes mom - I'm still single. Don't go jumping to conclusions. And no Grandma - I'm not dating Tim Tebow. Anyways...
Valentine's Day was my day with the "Primario Boys Dorm" at Casa Hogar Douglas. I was thrilled that I was scheduled to work for one of the dorms on Valentine's Day so that those workers - newlyweds at that - could enjoy a relaxing Valentine's Day off while I took care of their 10 boys for the day. My boys were incredibly sweet to me on this day. I made them all homemade Valentines and gave them each their own bag of candy and toys. They were so appreciative and kept saying, "Thank you Caroline. I just love you." Considering that I pretty much NEVER give them candy - I prefer toothbrushes, toothpaste, sugarless gum, fresh fruit and children's vitamins - this was a bit of a treat.
The entire day was rather uneventful until dinner. An american team serving with Back2Back for the week was grilling dinner for the children's home and I was thrilled because if I had to be stuck at Douglas all day on Valentine's Day - at least someone could grill me a mexican hot dog. It was a huge improvement from the plate of refried beans I'm often served for dinner on Monday nights so I enjoyed it very much.
As the American team was cleaning and packing up to leave for the night, Jim Betscher a fellow staff member with B2B got up and explained to the group that for the next 7 days - ALL the kids and workers from douglas were going to do a prayer walk to pray over all the different areas and dorms every night after dinner and that they were start tonight and on the 7th day - they'd do the prayer walk 7 times. I was so shocked and taken a back by this that I literally got teary eyed in the palapa that very second. You see, a year or so ago - me and Jim used to joke and just throw out what we thought were ridiculous prayer requests and dreams for what Casa Hogar Douglas would be like some day. Over the past 2 years, I have seen first hand every day the power of prayer displayed at that children's home. I've seen God break down barriers and remove people and bring new people in and resources to literally change everything about that home. I know that nothing will change that home for the better without prayer. We've been dreaming that those children would come to know the Lord as their savior and that they'd grow up to be worshippers of God and to know his power in their lives. We've prayed that Douglas would be a place of true worship - a place where the kids cry out to their heavenly father.
So he announces this and then I'm supposed to round up all my kids and go up on top of the hill to the chapel as we began to pray with the kids. I'm still fighting tears at this point. We walked around and the kids laid hands on every building on the property for the next hour. We prayed over every dorm and it's workers individually and prayed scripture over their business out front, the church, the office, the dining hall - everything. Baby David fell asleep in my arms about half way through. The kids were repeating God's promises and scripture after Javier, they were praying and laying their hands on the buildings and dorms and I was just crying and in total shock. Because this is how it starts. This is how real change comes about. It was without a doubt the most beautiful thing I have seen/witnessed in my entire 2.5 years here in Mexico.
About 2/3rds the way through the prayer walk on that first night, Jim and I just started laughing as he said, "Can't you just feel the ground shaking? The kids are praying and the ground is just shaking. All the bad guys are freaking out - they are trembling. The enemy is being defeated."
That's right - the enemy has been defeated. Death couldn't hold Jesus down. As believers, we know how this thing ends. We know who gets the victory on the final showdown. And when we band together and pray for God's victory, justice, light, truth and righteousness - God will deliver. He will come through.
Bible says that we don't have because we don't ask in prayer (James 4:2) and that if we will humble ourselves and pray to God that He will come down from heaven and just heal our land (2 Chron 7:14). I have never been more convinced or just giddy over the weapon that confident prayer is for anyone trying to follow after Christ - the kind of prayer were you just declare what's right and good and true and are CONFIDENT that God will answer.
on a side note - I asked each of the boys jokingly if any of them wanted to be my Valentine. A few thought about it and I said, "are you sure? because if you say yes than that means that we have to get married." And their faces were priceless - the look of - no way caroline! you're nuts! Jose told me, "no way! My mom said I can't have a girlfriend." Jose is 6 years old. Hilarious. Fernando agreed far too enthusiastically to be counted as normal. I clarified and said, "fernando are you sure? Do you know what that means? it means we have to get married when you are older." And he jumped up and down and threw his hands up in the air and yelled, "That's what I've ALWAYS wanted!!!" You gotta love that kid.
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