"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55:8

"The best remedy for a sick church is to put it on a missionary diet."

— Unknown

(part 3 from my time in Uganda)

We arrived at the clinic, excited to be out of the public, only to find hundreds of people waiting for us. But this is why we came here: to save people. I thought to myself, "Wow, this is going to be awesome." That's the one thing I learned on this trip: my thoughts are wrong…a lot!

I worked in the vision center during the clinic, which meant that we would give glasses to

people who needed vision correction. Sounds easy, right?

People from prior clinics said that the vision center was one of the busiest sections, but after 30 minutes, we only saw 2 or 3 people. I didn't understand, and became frustrated. I traveled thousands of miles only to waste my time standing around. As the day went on, more people started showing up, and my frustration shifted away from boredom to helplessness.

People started explaining their problems, which included tired eyes from reading, itchy eyes from dust, eye sensitivity from the sun, etc. The people were genuinely concerned about their vision, but didn‟t need me to help: rest your eyes after 15-20 minutes of reading, wear goggles when traveling in dusty areas by motorcycle, wear sunglasses and don't look at the sun. Why would God bring me here in order to tell the patients (what I thought) were common sense solutions. Not only that, but these people were tired and upset after traveling miles and sitting for hours, just to hear, "I‟m sorry, glasses won't help you."

I don‟t like telling people "No," but unfortunately, it didn't matter how easy the solution was. I didn't have the tools to help them, and therefore spend my day disappointing them.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55:8

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Philippians 4:6

"Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action is — where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge." — Robert C. Shannon

By 11 am, I was at the end of my rope. I thought I was going to cry, because I felt so helpless. “I can‟t help these people,” I thought. That‟s when I remembered that one of the locals was running a prayer clinic, and decided to try that. "Hey, I know how to pray," I thought. (Remember what I said about my thoughts?)

I found Dickson, and asked him if I could pray with his team. He quickly said yes, so I asked where the prayer room is. To clarify something here, I need to explain that before I asked him whether I could pray with the team, I was under the impression that a group of old ladies were making petitions to God in some secluded room. I mean, that's how we pray in America...interestingly enough, that's not how they pray in Africa.

Dickson interrupted my train of thought and said "Here Josh, pray with this guy," and introduced me to a man that spoke English in a very heavy accent. "Where do I begin," I asked. "Ask him if he wants to accept Jesus," was Dickson's reply. WOAH...let's take a step back here. My name is Josh Wheeler, but I think you have me confused with Billie Graham.

The first guy I spoke with told me that he was a Christian and wanted prayer for his health and the dreams he was having. I asked him about his dream, and he told me about a lake of fire with his family walking towards it. I prayed for him and moved on to the next guy, who said he needed prayer for health and dreams as well. This guy experienced repeated nightmares involving monsters that woke him from sleep. Finally, I spoke with another person who said he was struggling with the news that he has AIDs. My helplessness went from bad to worse. I can't help these people; in fact, I had become helpless and scared. I got myself into a situation right out of a Stephen King novel. I am way out of my comfort zone, and praying for these people was emotionally, spiritually, and even felt physically draining. I realized that I needed to take a break, and as I left, I felt as though I was wading through chest-high water. I couldn't even hold my head up. "What am I doing here," I thought?

As I sat down to eat my lunch, I prayed, "Lord, I don't understand. These people have problems that I can't solve, and in fact, it must hurt them more that I can't even relate to them." That's when I felt God say, "Pay attention Joshua. Look at these people before you pray with them. They are scared; they are distraught, and trying to hold it together. Look at them after you pray; they are comforted and full of peace. It's not because of you, but it's because the Holy Spirit will comfort them." That's the day I realized that there is power in prayer.