It was a long day. Most of the day we were on back roads. We got off the Interstate to drive to the small town of Whiteclay in Nebraska just over the boarder from Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The drive was a time of prayer, and praising God for the beauty. When we arrived in Pine Ridge, we were approached by a man selling charcoal artwork. I am now the owner of a charcoal likeness of Crazy Horse. When we told the artist we were headed for Whiteclay, he shared about the people there. He said it was an area that needed a lot of help. We found that to be the truth.
We were met in Whiteclay by a small group of men. One young man stood off a little and watched. The small group of men Sat by outer wall the 555 Club. We entered the club and spoke with the owners. We had brought a few cases of bottled water and couple other items for them. After unloading the small offering, we started handing out water and some of the food and hygiene kits we brought for individuals to the men sitting by the wall.
The gifts prompted the men to start asking for prayer. One man walked by, as he was heading to another building down the road, asked if I would speak with him when he returned. Another man wanted prayer for his girl friend, just diagnosed with tumors. After a few prayers, the young man who had been watching came over and started asking me questions about salvation. He seemed to have an issue with grace; he wanted to know about the different sins. For each one the Spirit gave me a character in the scriptures to show that God forgives.
The man who had walked to another building returned and also wanted to talk about salvation. The two men spoke with me for about an hour, before one of them asked for prayer for salvation. The other man continued to talk about the sins of the area and how hard life is for them. God ministered to him about the Father’s love, and the act of the Son and how they relate. The man had an issue with tenderness – he has a tender heart, but shows a hard heart for protection. I shared about Jesus and King David and their strength and tenderness as flexibility. The man said he would go home and study his Bible to see if it had the same answers I gave him.
An elder, who had been one of the first men to greet us, asked for me to speak with him away from the others. He started by sharing his faith in Jesus and the Father with me. Then his eyes got real sad and he said, “I don’t want to drink anymore.” The Spirit led me to pray for his heart and then to rebuke the spirit of addiction and break off the words of addiction spoken continually over the area. The Lord had me speak to the man about his place in the community as an elder. Then the spirit began to pray with a utterance unknown to me. I was told later by one of the young men that the utterance was a Lakota Sioux blessing.
People started coming from everywhere for words and prayer. What we overcome becomes our ministry. If you are an overcomer in any area or your life, you should visit Whiteclay – it will change your heart forever.
There was about a 20 minute session of hugs and prayer as we prepared to head down the road. Just before we left, a young man came up selling artifacts; I am now the owner of a stone ax. As we headed for Wyoming, the weather turned and storms moved into the area. We rebuked the wind and pushed through. The weather report had the storms right in our path. The Spirit moved me to stop and ask for directions (a miracle). A young woman gave us a map of the area, and showed us the path to avoid the storms. We drove through about 5 minutes of rain, and no wind. Praise God!
