Reaching Out in D'ville

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to volunteer with HPC’s Healing Hands ministry at the Donaldsonville Dream Center. I’ve been around Healing Hands several times, as ICU (Inner City Unit) always partners with them when we’re at Mount Olive FEMA park, but this was the first time I worked with them directly. Being as that all of my medical training has come while trying to stitch myself up from my latest misadventure, I wasn’t sure that I would be much help. Fortunately, all they asked me to do was pray. That I can do.

Dr. Cheri Leblanc and her husband Joseph oversee the mobile medical unit, which goes to various locations to provide free medical care for those who can’t afford to go to a doctor. Over the course of about 4 hours, 25 patients were seen, treated and given free prescription medication for their ailments.

My job was to pray with the patients after they had seen Dr. Cheri. Isaac and Joe were praying for the men while Miss Beverly and I (both first-time volunteers) prayed for the ladies. It was a great experience.

I expected that there would be lots of prayer requests for physical healing, and there were a fair number. Some of the other requests though, were a little surprising. As Miss Beverly and I listened to each woman’s story, I realized how broad the scope of Healing Hands really is. We prayed for broken marriages and upcoming court cases. We prayed for healing for other pastors in the community. We prayed against domestic violence, abuse and addiction. I was shocked at how much information these women were willing to give complete strangers. It was definitely God.

By 7:00pm I felt as if I had been through a war. Miss Beverly and I sat in the nursery-turned-prayer room, just looking at each other. The needs in this community, like so many others, seem overwhelming. I’m so very grateful that my only job is to lift those needs up to God; it’s His job to meet them.

We gathered with the other volunteers for closing prayer. We gave God honor and praise for the twenty-five souls that had been touched; through physical healing and the power of prayer. We thanked Him for the opportunity to serve Him and His children. After handshakes and hugs everyone loaded into their cars and headed back across the Sunshine Bridge. Driving into the darkness I realized that Healing Hands might start with the body, but that’s only to gain access to the soul. All glory to God!