Miracle Land

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Finding a piece of suitable property proved difficult. We needed some miracle land soon because of the increase in population in the orphanage. At this particular time, I had eight girls living with me in a little apartment below the big house, where the rest of the girls lived with house parents. Because the apartment had only two small bedrooms, I had a bunk bed set up with a curtain around it in the living room for two of the girls. Would we have to resort to wall-to-wall beds?

We left the machete-bearing Guatemalans and entered the van. The friend of the realtor spoke up. “My sister owns some property in Monjas, which is thirty minutes from here. I can call her to see if she is interested in selling a portion of it.” The sister agreed, so we headed to the little town to meet the lady and see her land. She guided us out of town, and my heart jumped for joy because the ten acres were in the country. “Oh, Lord, this has to be the place,” said my country-girl heart.

IMG_1079One mile from Monjas, we stopped by a barbed-wire fence. We climbed through, and there stood a huge towering ceiba tree swaying in the soft breeze of the cow pasture. Gib, Joanne, and I looked at each other, smiled with thumbs up, and said, “This is it.” I turned slowly in a circle and saw the beautiful mountains all around us in the distance. The deep blue sky with big fluffy clouds looked just like my Montana sky. My heart soared even higher. This had to be the perfect place for Shadow of His Wings Orphanage.

We found the land and now we only needed money to pay for it. I believed the Lord already had a plan for that, and a miracle would happen. We waited with expectation when one large donation came in, but the donor had designated it for something else, and we honored the request. Then we were hit with an unexpected twelve percent tax, which hurt because it hadn’t been included in the land budget. The Lord helped us hurdle each obstacle, and the day came when He faithfully provided the money from a combination of donors. James Project of Latin America became owners of ten acres of land less than two months after finding property.

The children could now play safely in wide open spaces while breathing fresh air. With a population of about six thousand people, we did not face the strong diesel fumes like in Guatemala City. We did, however, find ourselves in some traffic problems. I laugh when it happens, because I remember asking the Lord to take us to a place where we wouldn’t have to fight traffic. In His humor, we now have to fight for a portion of our space on the road to the Project from herds of Brahmas. Daily we have to weave around those huge horned animals as they brush the sides of the vehicle, reminding us that they are bigger and dominated the road first. There haven’t been any fatalities and it made me love this country more.

We found the miracle land, and God provided the money needed to make the purchase. Our faith and hope grew as we prepared for moving Shadow of His Wings Orphanage to Monjas, Jalapa. As with any move, it looked easier on paper than the actual moving. We pulled up roots to transplant the children to another place, and this affected everyone involved with Shadow. I took it on with great joy and excitement, for it was a new beginning for the orphanage.

To Find Land

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Our Shadow family grew, and the bedrooms filled up with girls. Joanne and I needed to to find land to begin construction for the orphanage in a permanent location. I felt comfortable living in San Cristobal, because I lived there for two years, but the door to purchasing land in this town slammed shut. Even a small piece of property was expensive. Finding a place to serve our needs and purposes looked impossible, but God had brought us this far and He would not abandoned us. Lord, this is your project. Please guide us to the place you have for us.

One day, Joanne took a map of the country and drew three circles on it. “We will need teams to help with the construction of the orphanage, so that means they will need transportation from Guatemala City’s airport to wherever we are. Each circle represents an hour from the airport. It would be too hard on a team to travel more than three hours for ministry with us.” After studying the map, we made note of the towns around each of the circles and decided to go check some of them out.

We believed the Lord would show us the right place. I came from Montana and had a country girl’s heart. I wanted these girls to experience the outdoors, being able to ride bikes, take walks, enjoy the evening breeze, watch the ever-changing sky, and breathe fresh air. We desired a safer place than what we experienced in the City. I also asked the Lord that it be a place with minimal traffic and diesel fumes that the buses spewed out. The answer to this request surprised me of God’s humor.

Driving through various towns and looking for “For Sale” signs didn’t lead us to any possible options. Some towns felt oppressive, and we would take a quick exit in the other direction. Many of the landowners sold by word of mouth, so we waited for something to show up.

A few months later, Joanne received a call from one of our James Project of Latin America board members, who had a realtor in her church. This lady knew of a piece of land in Jalapa—a two-hour drive from the City. The realtor, a friend of hers, the board member, Joanne, Gib, and I loaded the van and off we went. The property sat on a hillside just outside the city of Jalapa, so we could not build on level land. However, it had other pluses: The soil looked rich, and the trees provided nice shade from the hot sun.

We met with a cooperative of ten stern Guatemalans armed with machetes. That intimidated us a bit, but Joanne stepped up to the leader to discuss the land and the price. Meanwhile, with a smile pasted on my face, I prayed. Lord, keep us safe and give us favor with these men. May there be peace and respect between us. In the end, Joanne boldly asked if they would consider donating the land for an orphanage. The leader said they would contact us with the response at a later time, which never happened.

We did leave safely, and I knew in my heart that God had a plan and a place for us. We wait upon you, Lord, to help us to find land for our growing family.

Strategies for Overcoming Fear

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Manifestations in the demonic realm seemed continuous and kept us all on alert. I learned to recognize a certain look of darkness in the eyes of a girl. If I called out her name to look at me and had her say, “I am a child of Jesus,” the trance would come to an abrupt halt. Dealing with fear presented another issue. Lorena* went through several months struggling with trances and fear. All of us workers in the Shadow of His Wings Orphanage showed the girls strategies for overcoming fear.

“Mama Carroll, I need to talk to you,” Lorena quietly spoke with a catch in her throat.

I told her to come into my room and sit down. “What is the problems, mi amor?”

“I-I-I’m scared to go into the bathroom.” She had my full attention with this announcement and continued to explain. “When I go in, I’m afraid a snake is going to come up out of the toilet, or when I am in the shower, I feel like the water will turn to blood. I’m afraid to go to the bathroom at night, and last night I almost wet the bed.” The anxious look on this sixteen year old’s face told me of the seriousness of the situation. Lord, please give me some insight for this situation. How can I help Lorena?

I wondered what had provoked these thoughts. We didn’t allow the girls to watch movies other than the good Disney types. Perhaps she was reliving something from the past. Fear haunts the lives of these children, just as it does in the life of every living person. The degree of fear varies, but the big question loomed in front of me: how to deal with it. These kids had been exposed to witchcraft and satanic rituals. Many had viewed horror movies and brutalities on the streets or in their homes, so one can understand the strength of the fear factor. I could only share with the kids the strategies I used to deal with my fears and explain how to protect their minds.

“Have you experienced a time when any of these things have happened to you? Has a snake appeared in the bathroom or has there been blood?” I asked.

I heard a meek “no.”

“The enemy is attacking your mind. God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear but of love, power, and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). We read some Scriptures about fear and God’s promise of protection. We took authority in the name of Jesus, but I knew from experience that victory would be a process of learning to trust the Lord and what He promised. What a horrible feeling to have your heart racing and your imagination in over-drive, with the hopeless feeling of being alone.

“Lorena, when you begin to feel fear, immediately say Jesus aloud. Say it as many times as necessary until you feel peace coming into your heart. You know many Scriptures that say He is your protector and that He will hide you from the enemy. The Lord wants you to know you can trust Him and that He is always with you.”

Afterwards I purchased a flashlight, and I gave it to Lorena, suggesting that she keep it hidden under her mattress. Things like that had a way of getting stolen. She gratefully took it for any future nighttime ventures into the dark bathroom. She had permission to awaken me in the night if she needed me to pray for her. I told her it would be good to find a praise song to sing while she used the bathroom. Would she trust the Lord for His protection?

The next morning Lorena went to take a shower. I listened for a song but didn’t hear anything. “Lorena?”

“What?” she shouted back.

“Yo tengo gozo gozo gozo en mi corazón.” (I have joy joy joy in my heart.)

I chuckled when I received back a loud, “Dónde?” (Where?)

I replied, “En mi corazón.” (In my heart.) We sang back and forth for a few more stanzas before I stopped. I felt victory when I could hear her continuing with the song.

Months later, Lorena felt that she had overcome the fear of going into the bathroom, along with some other fears that popped up at times, by using the strategies for overcoming fear. The Lord faithfully showed her that He could be trusted and that He would never leave her unprotected. All of us rejoiced with each victory that I saw in the girls.

*Name has been changed.

Deliverance From Demons: Part 3

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IMG_1293The battle for Ester’s* deliverance from demons continued as we sought the Lord for answers in breaking the demonic hold on her. I read in Ezekiel 4 where God gave Ezekiel a plan to seize Jerusalem. I felt that we were to take siege of the orphanage—the girls and everyone who worked with us, just as Ezekiel had been commanded for Jerusalem. I looked up “siege” in the dictionary and boiled it down to fit our situation. “Siege” meant to make a continuous effort to gain all of the children and all associated with the orphanage for the Lord. In Isaiah 61, God said He would set the captives free. Jesus Christ gave believers the authority over the enemy, and we declared that over Ester.

After destroying all of the jewelry, we led Ester through the Bible and shared about the hope and love that is hers from the Lord. She admitted that she desired that kind of love. I had her read Scriptures of truth, inserting her name in the sentences to personalize the words. All the girls needed to know that it is our identity in Christ that gives us the authority to ask God for anything. We are no longer captives or slaves but God’s children (Galatians 4:7-9). As Ester grew into a deeper understanding of what being a child of God meant, she repented and denounced being the bride of Satan. It took time, love, words of encouragement from “Word Planters,” prayer, and reading God’s Word, but gradually this young girl accepted the Lord’s love and became a pillar of strength. Ester shined with the knowledge that she was somebody special in the eyes of her Creator.

Ester needed to be prepared for when she left the orphanage, knowing how to stand in the authority the Lord gave her. I talked to her about temptations and the pull back into her old life. We discussed how she could come against them with the Bible truths that had been planted in her heart. What blessed me more than anything was when I saw her ministering to other girls, with her Bible open and words of truth pouring out of her mouth. Many of the girls who had received deliverance did the same. They were set free from their old lives and ministered to the new girls out of their new lives in Christ.

After each situation of spiritual confrontation, I found myself becoming bolder in the authority Christ gave us. I used to feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck, but I found myself ready for battle, knowing that we already had victory. We only needed to fight the battle with the weapons our gracias Lord gave us. We continued to teach the girls that they too have the authority and can put an end to the manifestations. I put this teaching as a top priority, because they would not always be with us, and using their God-given authority would bring victory. The world is filled with darkness, and for these girls knowing how to walk in authority helps free others from bondage. These children make a difference in this wicked world. Of course, it’s a process of learning for all of us, and it excites me to know they can walk in peace, love, and victory. None of the children were too young to learn how to break the bondage of the enemy and walk in the freedom of the Lord.

*Name has been changed.