TESTIMONY: Alyse Lewis

This year’s trip to Jamaica has completely changed my life. I think my mind is still trying to comprehend the magnitude of God’s work in the duration of this trip. For me personally, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the trip this year because I had gone last year to Jamaica, and had high expectations for the trip this year. Weeks went by and trainings for the trip were completed, and I found myself enduring spiritual warfare in preparation for the trip. I found myself wondering if I should even be going on the trip. Then, only a few nights before we left to go to Jamaica, Vickie Roland commented about all the negative stuff going on with our team. She said “God must have something huge planned for us if the devil’s trying this hard to attack us and tear us down.” After that, I started praying for strength to endure all the stuff that was going on around me because God must have something bigger planned for me on this trip, which is why I was facing so much opposition. The day we were leaving for the trip finally came, and the bundle of nerves and excitement that you feel before leaving on a missions trip was stirring inside of me. We left and got to Jamaica and the first time we stepped into Eight Mile the stronghold that was over the town was more than evident. Drugs, false religion, and sex had a grip over the town. After talking to several people in the town, I found myself in prayer just crying out to God that they would be able to see His love and mercy, because you could see the devil was trying to convince the people of the town to fill the void in their lives with other junk. That's where Javon comes into the story. After the second day of ministry, Becky Wiles mentioned during family time that she truely believed that God would heal this little boy of being deaf and mute, which has been apart of him since he was born. The people of Eight Mile needed to physically see the truth, power, and love of our God. We worshipped and cried out for the people of Eight Mile, and it turned into a 2 hour prayer and praise session. I felt completely submersed in the greatness, power, and love of God. I found myself in that moment saying and knowing with every inch of myself that "Nothing is impossible for God." Every fiber of who I am, and then some, was screaming it and I felt myself praising and thanking Him for the incredible and awesome love He has for us. That was the first moment that I knew without a doubt that God was going to move in that little boy’s life. Throughout that entire week, Lydia and I had been growing closer to Javon, his brother Sherman, and his mother. We would play with Javon, and go everywhere while each holding one of Sherman’s hands. The day before the dedication service, though, I got sick. I had stomach pain, was throwing up, and had a fever. That night, I had a really vivid dream that Javon spoke to me right outside of the church we were building. When I had that dream, my fever broke. I woke up that morning completely moved by the intensity and reality of the sensations of God I felt in my dream. We headed out to the church, and I was so pumped to see what God had instore for the day that we’d been waiting and praying for! We started the service, and I saw Sherman there, but not his brother or his mom. To all of our delight, both of them showed up to the service. The time came when Pastor CJ asked if anyone wanted prayer for healing, and Javon and his mom went up to the altar. Lydia, Danielle, and I all started pouring our hearts out to God to work a miracle in this boys life. God was his only hope out of this situation, and we all knew that He could do anything, include bringing miracles in that place. Our hearts were breaking for him, but we knew that it was in God’s hands, so we lifted our voices in prayer together. Javon started crying and became very uncomfortable, and ended up being taken out of the service to be calmed down. When he left, Lydia and I asked Sherman if he would want to pray to God for his brother that he would be able to hear and talk. He shook his head, and bowed it, and started to pray. This absolutely moved my heart to see this little boy with so much faith that God would bring healing. We continued to pray until the end of the service, when Javon and Sherman’s mother got saved! Lydia, David and I then went to say goodbye to Sherman and Javon’s family before we had to leave. Miss Night invited us into her house, and we gave out plenty of hugs to everyone, including Javon! The fact that he came up to give us a hug was proof of God already working inside of him, because it was so different than his normal hiding and hitting behavior he normally had. We told Miss Night as we were leaving that we would be praying for her and her family every day, and that Javon would be healed. She smiled and thanked us, and said “I love you” to us before we hugged her as well and left. The next day, the team from Georgia went to Eight Mile for some construction stuff, and said that Javon not only played with them, but hugged them as well! And Javon, the boy who had been deaf and mute since birth, spoke to answer a question that someone asked him! When I found this out, I started shaking and crying with overwhelming joy and thankfulness to God for what He had done, and what I got to be a part of. I had learned throughout that entire week not to put God in a box, because He is truly capable of doing more than we can even comprehend! God stretched me by trusting in His timing. Because he was healed the day after the dedication service, it made me stay strong in faith and trust in Him because I KNEW He would heal that little boy, just not when. There is no one like our God, and I was so blessed to have been a part of this team with my AMAZING brothers and sisters in Christ. I had only a glimpse of what God’s capable of this past week, and I’m so in awe of our amazing God and all that He’s done and will continue to do... greater things are yet to come!