My Soul Reedemed

             

We met a young man at worship the other night named Emmanuel, whose smile lit up the dark night sky. We later had the opportunity and complete honor of talking to him at dinner about his testimony. As Emmanuel sat down to tell us about his day, we quickly saw that this boy was in fact quite an outstanding young man of God. He started with asking us some heart-searching questions. His first, “What is the most important thing you ask God for everyday?” We talked about asking for the power of the Holy Spirit to give us understanding of the Lord's will and of scripture. We talked about love and forgiveness and to see His people the way He sees them. It was neat to see a piece of his heart in what He prayed for everyday. The next question broke our hearts before we could answer it, knowing by the look in his eyes that it was not hypothetical, but instead coming from a place of true emotion and past hurt... “If someone killed your dad and your only sister, how do you forgive them? What do you do?”

Stomachs sank and knots in the throat formed. After attempting to keep ourselves together and knowing we could not relate, we shared biblically how we are to forgive and find closure and comfort in Jesus when no one on earth can bring us healing in that way. He then began to share of his devastating loss of his family. At the young age of 10, Emmanuel experienced the power and devastating results of voodoo when his father and sister were murdered through someone’s curse upon them.

We have heard a few stories of how people use voodoo to kill and one we heard the other day was bone chilling. With walls filled with skulls cemented together, a voodoo practicing women lived behind her shrine and proved to someone how she can suck the life out of her prey from outside of their house. She demonstrated this by having an outsider place a ripe and good watermelon inside the house in an unspecified area. After reciting voodoo practices, the women told them to go back inside to get the watermelon, representing a life she potentially preyed on. The person came out with the watermelon in one piece, but when it was sliced in half it was absolutely hollow with only seeds left inside. She explained that this is how she sucks the blood out of her victims from outside the houses to give her life and power.

This may have been a similar curse upon Emmanuel’s family or it may have been a physical attack, but either way, it was devastating. We just wanted to hold him as we sat there fighting off tears and staring into his big eyes. At age 10, one of the only ideas of his future this young boy had was to murder the people that killed his family. Emmanuel fought feelings of brokenness, fear, and anger with no relief or form of coping. Emmanuel himself was raised in a voodoo practicing family, but by the grace of God, at the age of 12, his mother and grandmother were saved and gave their lives to Jesus giving them complete redemption of their past involvement in very demonic activities. Emmanuel soon thereafter found the Lord himself.

Emmanuel is 20 now and he ended his testimony with his redemption story. He was baptized this last year and loves the Lord above all else. He shared his dreams of being an architect, to go to the states to get better education, and then come back to Haiti to empower his own people to build this nation back up. He shared his hopes and desires for a wife who loves the Lord and wants to help him raise his kids to live their lives for Christ. He wants a wife that will do worship nights and bible studies with him as he leads his family in the way of the Word. It was so encouraging and refreshing to see such a young person really pursuing God’s will and being content with where He has him now.

  He said recently he saw a shrine of voodoo idols outside someone’s house and he watered it down and swept it away. With the power of the Holy Spirit and the healing of Jesus, he no longer had feelings of pain and anger towards those people who killed his family, but feelings of freedom and a new found urgency to pray for those involved in voodoo. His struggle with wanting to kill the people who took his family, is now a desire for them to have a new-found life in Jesus Christ.  This is radical proof of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in his heart. He no longer lives in fear of voodoo or people, but in the promises of God. A quote that he said that we will never forget reads "They can kill the body, but they cannot kill my soul. My soul is for the Lord.

Emmanuel mentioned how scared he was to share his testimony, but now sees how powerful it is and how God can use it to show His power in healing and redemption. Emmanuel has asked for prayer in boldness. He knows God has given him this story to proclaim God's glory, but he wants to overcome his fear and share his testimony to a bigger group of people who need to witness the healing power of Jesus and overcome tragic wounds of the past. 

            We were able to end our time with praying over him and we ask that you join us and be in continual prayer for him as well.   

"They can kill the body, but they cannot kill my soul. My soul is for the Lord" -Emmanuel Victor, 20