It was around 8:30 in the evening, I was pretty tired from a great but busy day. As I sat down on the side of the bed, my phone went off. “Goodnight Lindsey, can you come to my house? My brother is having chest pain”. Taking a deep breath, I felt the Holy Spirit urging me to go. I talked about it with Tim, and he encouraged me to go as well.
I hopped on my bicycle with my medical bag that had the bare necessities and cycled about a mile down the road. I arrived in front of the house and clapped my hands (in Brazil, that acts as ringing the doorbell). I walked into the house of a family that I have come to know very well. They feel like family to me. The young man in his late 20’s was at the kitchen table with his adult sister and his mom sitting across from him with the weight of worry all over their faces. After checking his blood pressure and looking deep in his eyes, I was filled with empathy. “Can I ask you some questions about your life?”
“yes”, he said with a heaviness in his eyes as he looked down trying to avoid eye contact.
I had to really rely on the Lord for my words to come out clearly and gracefully in Portuguese. “do you know that your life has value? Do you value your life?” As he fidgeted with his hands, he looked me dead in the eyes, “no, I don’t know that my life has value”. I could feel his anxiety and despair. I knew he had been locking himself in his room all day pondering his life, doing nothing but worry.
I felt it in my soul.
After asking to speak openly, I then reminded him of how the Lord sees him. That this young man needs to value his life and care for himself as the Lord values and cares for him deeply.
I lead the family through parts of The Psalms as we sat around that tiny table in the kitchen. We prayed together and we laughed together. He promised me he would go for walks And find something to feed his soul. I urged him to fill up on God’s word each day, to drown out the lies.
(Pictured is the cobblestone road in front of our house, where a local cane sugar farmer is going to the field)
Leaving their house about 2 hours later, I felt exhausted. But incredibly grateful for the work of the Holy Spirit and shocked that He wanted to work through me to speak into this young man’s life.
That 4 minute bike ride in the dark and quiet breeze to my house was one of the most quiet and peaceful 4 minutes of my life.
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