Giving Control to God | A Personal Testimony

“There’s that man again” Neal Hughes thought. While waiting on a bus with his mission team, Neal saw the same man from yesterday. The man was on the side of the road. He had no legs. Neal found out later the man went there every day to beg. His circumstance made a big impact on Neal. Little did he know that through this man on the side of the road, God would deepen and broaden Neal's understanding of His love.

It was Neal’s third day in El Salvador. He was helping lead a mission trip with the high school where his wife, Cami, taught Spanish. It was the second El Salvador trip for Neal. The first trip the year prior radically changed him. Neal had never been on a mission trip. The school needed another leader and Neal decided to come with the team and his wife. He had been overseas before with his job in the Air Force. It was nothing like this. The first day in El Salvador Neal dealt with doubt. He was overwhelmed by the surroundings. He didn’t speak Spanish. The second day he injured his hamstring and couldn’t help play sports with the kids. He thought that there was no way God could use him.

“I felt overwhelmed,” Neal confessed. “The enemy was attacking me and I could see it. I was out of my element but to see the kids be so amazing and bold encouraged me. At the end of the week at church, two students shared their testimony. I was astounded by how transparent they were. They shared their need for Christ. They admitted how it’s not your parent’s faith, and that it must be your faith. I had never shared my testimony before. Let alone in Spanish and in front of a whole church but I did that day. When I did, in a way, I was freed. Freed from the control and fear that was in me. Sharing my testimony in Jesus grew me spiritually. Also, seeing different people’s need for that hope, and to show them in a personal and tangible way, forever changed me.”

Since El Salvador last year, Neal’s life has looked different. It gave him the courage and burden to share the gospel. It gave me a broader and bigger perspective of God.

This year when the school announced the El Salvador trip, Neal signed up to go again. He wanted to get out of his comfort zone. He knew how good it was when he did. He wanted to be faithful to what God was calling him into.

That day, when he looked out of that bus and saw the same man that he saw two days before, felt providential. He knew he had to do something. He couldn’t forget him. The harsh conditions the man was surrounded by as he sat to the side of the road, the sidewalks torn up cracked and uneven, the roads parallel to them in the same condition ... Neal thought to himself on the bus “How does anyone with a handicap and with a wheelchair get around in this town?”

The next day a handful of students left for a prayer walk. Neal pushed through his discomfort and went with them.

“Not long into it, we noticed the gentlemen coming down the street,” Neal said excitedly. ““That’s the guy!” One of the young men on the mission’s team prayed for him. During the prayer we asked him if there were things he needed. He said, “I need an electric wheelchair.” Come to find out it is a good way away to the clinic he goes to for his diabetes. He’s a fellow Christian and a strong individual. Every day he goes to the corner and begs. Hearing what he described to our group just crushed me.”

When the group finished chatting with the man, they got some food for him, pushed him to his house and said goodbye. Neal knew this was not a coincidence. This was all God. Neal knew it that moment he was going to get that wheelchair. He didn’t know how or when, he didn’t even know the man’s name. But God did.

A couple of days later, back home in the States, Neal was on his computer shopping for wheelchairs. He realized there was a lot more to wheelchairs than he knew. He and Cami had to somehow contact him. Neal and Cami prayed.

“Thank goodness Neal took a picture of the man,” Cami declared. “At the youth center where we were at, there was a gal, Iris, who was always working. I went on WhatsApp with her and translated for Neal. We sent her the photo and asked, “Do you know who this man is?” A day later she replied, “I found him!” She was amazing. She also found out the man’s name. Roberto. Roberto lives down the street from the youth center. We went back and forth with her the next few weeks with questions like if Roberto had electricity. Is he right-handed or left? How wide were his doors? She was our communication system.”

Neal and Cami determined which wheelchair would be the best and ordered it. The next, and the greatest, challenge was how were they going to get it down there? They were not planning on going back. They couldn’t just ship it there with no one to receive it. Was God calling them to get uncomfortable again? How were they going to fund this? Neal knew he needed clearance approval to leave work. Without hesitation he submitted the paperwork and received approval almost immediately. Also, Neal’s deployment check came in, and it was the exact amount of the wheelchair minus $40. Cami and Neal bought their tickets that night and let Iris know they were coming down in two weeks with the wheelchair.

Having arrived in El Salvador earlier in the day, with the wheelchair boxed up and in hand, Neal and Cami pulled into the youth center. There sitting on the ground and waiting was Roberto. Neal noticed immediately a fearlessness in Roberto.

“He had sheer joy,” Neal exclaimed. “Roberto knew why we were doing this. Here I wanted him to know that he mattered to God. Roberto pointed and said to us, “They brought me the chair, but the Father touched their hearts.” He knew God stirred us to do that. The whole moment was so impactful, knowing that this was God’s plan and we get to be a part of it. On Roberto’s end, he got to see in a tangible way that he matters enough for God to do this for him. He had the faith.”

After about an hour together, testing the wheelchair in Roberto’s house and on the sidewalks, Neal and Cami prayed with Roberto. Roberto shared again the joy he had and that God was with him. Afterward, he asked for continued prayers with his legs and health. As they were walking away, Roberto exclaimed, “God is with me, and He is good!”

It’s been six weeks since delivering the wheelchair. Neal and Cami are still on a ‘high.’ Neal reminisced and said,

“I would often hear people tell these stories about how God told them to do this or that, but I never did. Now, I know that it does happen! God did move and in me. I ask and look to God for what I may be missing now. My encouragement to others is if you are being led, follow through. Be fearless and get uncomfortable.”

Serving in El Salvador over the past two years changed Neal's life forever. Through the people he met and the experiences he got to share, God taught him that he had nothing to fear and that letting go of control opens the door to a deeper and broader understanding of God's love and faithfulness.

Roberto's words will forever stay with him: "They brought me the chair, but the Father touched their hearts." God showed Neal and Cami, that true peace isn't found in controlling every outcome or in ourselves. It is found in trusting the loving Father who is always at work - often in ways we could never expect.