Want to read about a real-life miracle…or three?!!! Then read on…..

I have been so excited to grab a moment to share with you the exciting events of the first-ever Women’s Retreat in Zambrano which Ed and I hosted on Sunday May 2, 2010.

I want to tell you about the Retreat in story form…beginning from the moment God placed the vision for the Retreat on our hearts until the closing moments of the event. It is long, and for that I am sorry, but I know no other way to do it justice than to show you the deliberate road God laid out up to that day. Our God is not random, and in His economy, everything has its time and its purpose.

The Vision is born…

The vision for the Retreat was born in our hearts in January of this year. The Lord began to prompt our hearts to consider how to reach out to the women of our neighborhood. Our target group was to be women with whom we had weekly contact, or women who lived near us whom we knew to be in great need either physically or spiritually. The women fell into one or more of the following categories: women living in abject poverty, some without the basics of water or electricity; women living in situations of domestic violence; women with great fear or little hope; women raising families on their own without a spouse; unsaved women; or saved women in need of encouragement to go beyond ritual to relationship.

The Enemy Attacks…

One woman who we invited was named Gina. Gina was our next door neighbor. She was unsaved and living in a domestic violence situation, choosing not to seek legal assistance in a country where the man often seeks revenge on a wife who involved authorities, and where the police often “sell out” for financial reasons rather than uphold the actual law. (Case in point: Some of you might recall the story we shared with you about a 19 year-old woman named Maria whose boyfriend attacked her with a machete, severing her one arm, because she had confronted him about domestic violence and requested he leave the home. Maria continues to mend both physically and emotionally, but both types of scars will last a lifetime.)

I prayed for weeks for Gina as myself and a small leadership group prepared for the Retreat. I was so excited for Gina to attend the Retreat; I was praying she would become saved and that God would heal her marriage. Four weeks before the Retreat, Gina and her husband were murdered in an apparent robbery. Gina was only 23 years old. I am sure she thought she had all the time in the world to “someday” make a decision for Jesus. Oh, how the Enemy deceives us.

Ed and I were absolutely crushed by the murders of Gina and her husband; just so heartbroken for two lives that ended in such violence, saddened they had lived their lives in such violence and distance from God. The entire situation caused us to pray with more fervency for the other invited women. Our family motto took on a whole new urgency, “eternity mattered” to every woman on our invite list in a suddenly more intimate way.


Another invited woman is a dear friend named Martha. Martha gave her life to Jesus last year during my women’s bible study, leaving behind alcoholism and neglect of her family. Her life has been displaying spiritual fruit ever since! She is one woman for whom we were praying encouragement and rest in the Lord during the retreat. The night before the retreat, she and her friend were visiting together when a man opened fire on them with a hand gun, in an attempt to steal
some bicycles. Praise God, Martha and her friend were not hit by any of the bullets. Once again, we could see the Enemy so hard at work to keep the women from receiving a spiritual blessing they so desperately needed.

War in the heavenlies…

I invited 3 godly Honduran women to do the teaching during the Retreat. With expectant hearts at what God wanted to do in the lives of the invited women, we committed ourselves to pray and fast the final weeks leading up to the retreat. We poured out our hearts interceding for the women who would come to “sit at the feet of Jesus” for the day. I also asked 3 North American missionaries to commit to being a “prayer force” while the event was taking place. During the actual event, these 3 women walked around the property, or sat in the back of the pavilion praying over the participants and the leaders, and inviting the Holy Spirit to show up in all His power. The day of the retreat we also prayed that the women would not feel ashamed to come, even if their clothes were not the newest or the finest. We asked God to not let any embarrassment hold them back. I also enlisted each one of you to join us in covering the retreat with prayer protection and power. The work done in prayer made all the difference dear friends. The battle had already been waged, and won, by the time the first woman gave her life to Jesus!
We had chosen early May as our retreat time because it is typically dry, but as the day of the Retreat approached, we received an unexpected surprise…rainy season came early! We had planned the retreat to be outdoors, so heavy, torrential rains would cause a major problem for us. So, petitions for a dry day began to fill our prayer times. The day of the retreat, we awoke to drizzle, but by the time the first woman arrived, the clouds had cleared and the day ended up just beautiful! Yeah God!

Miracles…

Some people tell me that having God do a miraculous healing from a terminal illness is the most incredible work God does. I tend to believe that the most miraculous work God does is to change an unbelieving heart into a believing heart…to take a dead person and give him or her life in Christ Jesus. 1 John 5:11 & 12 tells us, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Many of the women who entered the gates of the retreat property were walking dead women. They were unsaved and dead in their sins; separated from Christ Jesus, enemies of God. Praise Jesus that at least 2 left alive and friends of God!!!!!

Digna Marisela entered the retreat lost, dead, and living a life of adultery. During the retreat, the Holy Spirit touched her heart and she gave her life over to Jesus Christ. She is asking for prayer so she will have the strength in Christ to leave her adulterous relationship and that God will restore her family. She wept so many tears of repentance over her sin and tears of joy over her new found treasure! It was breath-taking to behold! Yeah God!

Yeny has been practicing ritualistic Catholicism, far from God in her heart and painfully empty. Yeny found the true Jesus, exchanging ritual for relationship. She needs prayer for courage to walk out her faith, and protection from the Enemy’s lies in her mind. God wins again!

Gloria’s story is a tender one. I did not originally invite Gloria…but God did. She received an invitation because another woman could not attend, so she shared her invitation with Gloria. I first met Gloria during a community meeting in December. Unknown to me at the time, Gloria and her children were hiding from her husband, a violent drug-abuser. Gloria had fled her home with her children and they were sleeping in an abandoned day care building at night. (This is the same day care building I have been using for our Casa de Luz Zambrano campus children’s project since late January.) During the day, they hid behind a large water tank near the day care building, eating and playing in the tall weeds around the tank.

Gloria does not know Jesus. She made the comment to one of our leaders that hearing the Word and listening to the praise songs and prayers were incredible for her. She said she could not express in words what the day had meant to her and how thankful she was to have had the opportunity to attend. Praise God that He allowed that invitation to make it to her hands! Yeah God! Gloria has had a taste of God’s goodness, but we so desire for her to feast on His love! Will you join us in praying for Gloria’s salvation, and for her husband to leave his drug lifestyle and for the family to know peace and healing?

I overheard one woman say that the retreat was the first time she had ever truly felt happiness and joy. She was awed by the experience. Another woman stated it was the first time she had been invited to sit and let God talk to her. She felt so renewed and refreshed by the day. God is at work. Yeah God!

Our leadership group was astounded by the great percentage of women who confided to our leaders that domestic violence was a regular danger in their homes. One of our leaders, who lives in another city, asked me how I keep from feeling overwhelmed by the incredible depth of need in just this small group of women. I told her that honestly, some days it feels overwhelming, like I am drowning in a sea of never-ending need. I can only keep pressing on by remembering I am not called to be a Savior, I am simply called to be obedient and do the very thing my Savior asks me to do in the very moment He asks me to do it. Nothing more. Nothing less. Simply obedience. Jesus is the only One who can rescue or save.

Appearances can be deceiving…

As I look over the photos I took that day, I marvel at how lovely the women look. Each one took great care to be clean, dressed in the best they own, not wanting to feel awkward by not looking her best. Big, dangly earrings were the accessory of choice that day! (smile) To look at the photos, one would assume these are women who could sit next to you in any church in the United States and not seem out of place…and they could. What is my point? My point is that while these women appeared to have it all together, to be collected and pleasant, the majority of them were dying on the inside; their wounds being potentially fatal, but concealed.

The photos reveal women with creamy brown skin and ebony colored hair, but they don’t reveal the state of the heart. God sees the heart. He saw broken women, lost souls, wounded hearts, frightened spirits, and deceived lives. If I had taken a photo in your church last Sunday, what would the photo reveal? I would guess much of what my photos reveal…lovely dressed people with a pleasant and polite smile, trying to look their best so as not to feel awkward or out of place in a sea of faces. But what would God see? Have we taken the time to look past the appearance and see the state of the heart of the person seated next to us in church? Men, women, teens, and children enter our church doors every Sunday in a state of walking death. I ask myself how many times I have missed the opportunity to share Jesus, or even just a hug, with someone in my own church pew.

Calling 9-1-1…

Someone very dear to me who lives in the United States is going through the valley of the shadow of death right now. She is in need of a touch from our Savior. She entered a church last Sunday seeking peace, encouragement, and maybe a touch of love from Jesus’ people. Sadly, she exited the church without one single person extending the love of Jesus to her. She entered God’s house with a bleeding wound but it was concealed from sight. Had she stumbled in off the street with a physical wound, someone would have called 9-1-1 for an ambulance or applied a bandage to help her stop the bleeding. But her wound was of the heart, spiritual and hidden. She looked good, but she was bleeding to death.

How often have I missed the chance to apply spiritual First Aid? I am challenged in my spirit. During the retreat, I witnessed first-hand the power of one woman coming alongside another woman and sharing her burden. I witnessed women brought from death to life. I witnessed the healing of heart wounds. I witnessed what happens when God’s people pray. I am reminded again of the passage in 1 John 5:11, “And this is the testimony…He who has the Son has life.”

Look to the heart today! It could save a life!

Because Eternity Matters,
Valerie