One rainy afternoon in San Jose, while I was prayer-walking through a park by our house, I was interrupted by a man asking for money. He introduced himself as Joseph and explained that he was homeless. I replied that I didn’t have anything to give him (I left everything at our house), but when he turns away to leave, God gently tells me that isn’t true.
“Wait!” I cried, and the man turned back around. In my best Spanish, I explained that while I still don’t have any money, I have something else I want to give to him- a good message from God. Before I knew it, Joseph is sitting next to me on the steps sharing his life story. He is from Nicaragua, he was incarcerated for 20 years for a triple murder, and he has been homeless in Costa Rica for almost 7 years. He had felt manipulated by the devil and could hear demonic voices. There was one thing he kept emphasizing: “I don’t like my life right now and I want things to change.” I could see a deep craving for something better- soil ready for a seed.
When I began to share the good news of Jesus, Joseph was absolutely captivated. Unfortunately, it started to pour, and Joseph had to leave to claim a dry place to sleep for the night, but he insisted on us returning the next day to continue our conversation.
When I returned the next day, Joseph isn’t there. I wait for 10, 20, 30 minutes, but still no Joseph. I was very disappointed. I had to accept that I probably would never see Joseph again and needed to surrender him over to God. It was completely in His hands to finish the work He began.
Several days later, while walking back from our favorite coffee shop, my squad leader Katie and I passed a man sleeping on the sidewalk- JOSEPH! I was so excited to see him I couldn’t help but yell and wake him up. He was a bit startled, but when he recognized me, he was completely overjoyed. Repeatedly he asked us, “but how did you find me? Why were you walking this way? How did you even recognize me?” It was so obvious to me that God had so graciously answered my prayer. Even when I couldn’t find Joseph, God knew where he was all along, and He had not forgotten him. He led us directly to the place where Joseph sleeps every single night, and we were again able to pour into him with the message of Christ. When we parted that night, Katie felt that we were supposed to give Joseph a Bible, so we committed to returning for one more conversation before we left for Jacó.
We decided to spend our last night in San Jose doing night ministry, and Katie and I went straight to give Joseph his Bible. He was incredibly thankful and emotional over this gesture. We were able to share our favorite verses and some words of encouragement, but we started to go down some unwanted theological rabbitholes. I wanted to rescue the conversation and get the right point across, but I got the feeling that we needed to get out of the way- that Joseph needed to do business with God- that he needed to pray and receive whatever God had for him. After praying and interceding for a few minutes, Joseph confessed to us with tears that he needed reconciliation and forgiveness in his strained relationship with his son. We prayed again, and again he had more confessions and petitions for God. It was powerful to see these weights lifted and shame washed away. Then, while praying, my eyes were opened to a pain in Joseph’s wrist that I believed God wanted to heal. But from what I was hearing from God, it had to be between Him and Joseph only.
I asked Joseph about it, and if he wanted to be healed. He did, of course. Though he didn’t know if God would heal him, he believed God could, and was even willing to take a step of confidence to pray aloud to ask God for this.
Joseph suddenly stopped praying and took off his arm band, and with mouth open, wordlessly rotated his wrist. He had full range of motion and absolutely zero pain. His wrist was completely healed. Later, I find out that Joseph had given his life over to Christ to be completely transformed.
Not a week earlier, Joseph was living in shame, fear, and hopelessness. He was tormented by demonic voices and had no hope of freedom. He was living with spiritual, emotional, and physical pains that he believed were a permanent part of him. Now, he was crying out to God as his Father. He had seen the beauty of the hope Christ gives us and had experienced God’s rich love and mercy. He saw that God was better, and was ready to leave everything behind to follow the truth.
This is the power of the hope we have in Christ. His hope meets us wandering in the darkness- in anxiety, in depression, in addiction, in loneliness, and in pain- and promises that there is light (that’s the good news of the gospel!). Instead of having to stay in our darkness forever, hope gives us another option, a way out, a promise of something better. Despite what we feel, God never leaves us alone, He never withholds good things from us, and He never gives up on us. He leaves 99 others to find the 1. We simply have a choice to make. We can stay in the darkness, pleading for change, or we can take Christ by his outstretched hand and walk courageously into a new life that lays right there in front of us. God really does save. He really does heal. Christ is alive and He is REAL. He deserves so much glory.
Please take a minute today to pray for Joseph as he begins his new life with Christ:
– protection from temptation, spiritual attack, and physical violence/theft
– continued desire to read the word
– opportunity for discipleship and connection with other believers
