The Presence of the Lord... Homeless Shelter!

Last night was... too many things to put into words. 

I and a group of about 6 other missionaries went to a homeless shelter here in the city. This homeless shelter was amazing... people line up outside of this government funded shelter each afternoon. They receive a number... women and elders are accepted first. The shelter accepts 102 people each night. When the people enter, they shower, get clean pajamas, and are assigned to a room. In the rooms there are bunk beds, sheets, pillows... it is such a clean place. 

We went to help serve dinner and to minister to these people. (Starting next week, we are going to take all of the left over food from the base to donate to the shelter).

I know most people have horrible thoughts about the homeless, thinking that they are just lazy or bad people.... nothing is further from the truth. 

The others were serving dinner and I felt like God was leading me to go talk to the women who were waiting to eat (they eat by room number so that there are not too many people eating at the same time). I went into room number 15 which was occupied only by women. 

I walked into the room and the 6 women in there sat up in their beds. They were beautiful. They exchanged glances and then one finally asked, “Are you an angle”? (I assumed it was because I was blonde). They then began to tell me that I was gorgeous... but the reason they asked that was because they felt the presence of the Lord with me. They all had goose bumps. I was immediately awestruck with God’s awesome-ness.... He promises to go with us; but these women could feel it and smell it. Wow... God is good.

I began to talk with the women who immediately opened up to me. It was obvious that they were desperate to talk to someone. Two of them told me that they had been praying so hard lately and then God sent himself through me. I was just so amazed at how good God is even in the small things. We had prayed earlier this week about where to go to do ministry that night, and God had told us to go there. 

They all told me that they were struggling with ‘deep, profound’ sadness. My heart turned inside of me. 

Dayana, 33 years old, was absolutely gorgeous. We began to talk and she just poured everything out... she had been waiting for a moment such as this for 13 years she told me.... wow God. She left her house when she was 13 when her father tried to kill her (he was a violent alcoholic). She had nowhere to go and thus began her long journey. She lived with one family for a while but the man was very violent as well; she showed me her ear which had been split all the way in half from his abuse. She had four children who were living with her ex-husband. I’m not sure what happened with her ex-husband, but it was extremely traumatic. She was desperate now... living on the streets. When she first went onto the streets, it was because of alcohol. Alcohol had been her way to escape the pain, but had cost her everything. She has now been sober for 8 months... and just found out that she is pregnant. My mind was screaming, these are the people Jesus came to save!!!!  She was desperate... in need of a savior. She knew God and she knew Jesus, but just had wandered off. 

I began to intercede in prayer in my spirit, and then God took over. Things began to come out of my mouth that I didn’t even know, as tears streamed down her face. She couldn’t believe that I knew those things about her life, which I didn’t, but God sure did. We talked for hours. I spoke words of truth to her, encouraged her, and declared words of God over her life. Words of truth. And I truly do believe in Dayana. I could feel God’s heart for her.... He gave me an image of her sitting on the street alone and scared; and he had a string tied to her heart, tugging and pulling her closer. He obviously didn’t cause this situation, but was determined to use it to draw her close (even so determined that he sent us there to minister to her). He wanted her heart so desperately, just like he wants all of our hearts. 

I began to pray for her... but before I warned her that I couldn’t pray in Spanish very well because my spirit still talks to God in English. She said that was fine! Another girl, Laura, from my missionary team how now entered this room to see what was going on. I placed my hands on her and could literally feel how heavy the presence of the Lord was in this room. I open my mouth and out came this passionate prayer in perfect Spanish; a prayer that spoke right to her heart; a prayer that had Laura’s chin on the floor. When I finished after 15 minutes, Dayana looked up with tears streaming down her face. I knew that that was the Holy Spirit. 

When I experience something like that, there are no words to describe what I feel... complete amazement at God, fear from how HUGE and powerful He is, but absolutely in love with His goodness, very humble, very little, but filled!

She truly wants to get off of the streets and get her life back. She gave me a ring to remember her with and to pray for her. When I left last night, all of the women in the room had peace and hope... how precious is hope. Thank you God... where the presence of the Lord is there is Freedom! 

I am going back to visit and continue to minister at this place. I can’t wait to see what God does! These people just need someone to believe in them and speak truth of their value over them. 

The owner was a man who lived on the streets for 15 years... he is now working at this government funded shelter. He has a wife and children, a house, a life... He KNOWS that it was God who took him off of the streets. However, he is looking for a relationship with God. Wow! Praise the Lord!