Lalo Padron is one of those humble volunteers in the Lord’s service who is willing to do whatever is needed, no matter how menial the task. He and his wife help maintain Las Alas, our main building, and their tasks include cleaning bathrooms and sweeping and mopping a 6000 square foot floor each week. Lalo always does his work very cheerfully often saying, “God has blessed me and my family so much over the years, I want to serve Him as much as I can.”
A few months ago Lalo was burning some weeds to clear a lot near his home in Juarez. A sudden wind came up and blew the small fire out of control. It spread rapidly and started to get dangerously close to the buildings. Neighbors came running out of their houses to help Lalo put out the flames. Amidst the chaos, Lalo accidently stepped on a nail that was sticking straight up out of a piece of wood that was on fire. The nail went right through his tennis shoe, piercing his foot with the red hot metal burning the surrounding flesh. Although in great pain, Lalo’s main focus was putting out the fire so that no homes would be damaged and he kept on working until the fire was totally extinguished.
When he finally got to the doctor’s, they gave him a tetanus shot and some medicine to apply to the wound and then sent him home with instructions to rest and keep the weight off his foot. After several weeks there was some improvement in the wound but it did not completely heal. It remained raw and open. Lalo was in great pain and it was very difficult for him to walk. Week after week he limped along, trying to do his work. Sweeping and mopping the huge floor at Las Alas now was agony. At his next appointment the doctor told him, “This was a very bad injury. It could take several more months to completely heal. You need to give it time.”
Discouraged and worn out, Lalo went to church. “With all of my heart I cried out to the Lord, ‘Lord Jesus, You know I want to serve You but I can’t do my work with my foot in this condition. You say in Isaiah 53:5 that by Your wounds we are healed. I believe You can heal me. I believe You are healing me. Thank You, Jesus.’ So all that day, and the following days, I kept proclaiming over and over again, ‘By the wounds of Jesus, I am being healed. By the wounds of Jesus, I am being healed.’
“Within a week,” he continued, “my foot was completely and absolutely healed! No open wound, no redness, no more pain. Praise God!”