Sid: We want everyone everywhere to have the compassion of God, and if you’ve been listening this week to my guest Jennifer and Jonatan Toledo the heads of Global Childrens Movement, Foley, Alabama. I believe your heart has been broken. On yesterday’s broadcast Jennifer was sharing about what it means to be a child today. She was talking about the AIDS, the children on the streets, the sexually exploited, the ones victimized by war, child soldiers, and the details are unbelievable. Jennifer, you and your husband are just a couple of people, but you’re walking in divine strategy from the kingdom of heaven from the King. Tell me about some of the children you’ve seen with your very eyes that have been set free and restored from being so victimized from sexual exploitation, to war, etcetera.
Jennifer: We’re seeing actually so many children that are really coming to know Christ that are being healed by these things that God is using to raise up as healers. I think of one particular little boy, Richard. One of my favorite kids, but this little boy he was born actually in a very amazing circumstance. His mother was beaten to death by his father; this is in Africa in the desert. She was 9 months pregnant with twins when she was beaten to death. What happened was as they were burying her body right after they found her dead, as they were burying her body they saw movement in her stomach. They cut her stomach open to find one of the twins was still alive, this is little Richard. Richard just grew up as an orphan like most orphans do with abuse, beaten, starving, in fact he had to nurse off of camels and goats just to survive in the desert. I mean starvation, we can’t even comprehend this you know. Abuse of every sort, and God appeared to Him, he never heard about Jesus, he had no idea who Jesus was. Jesus appeared to him in the desert while he was walking around like around 6 years old and spoke to him and called him. Little Richard believed in this Jesus, even though he never had heard about Him. This little Richard was picked up, was found by some Christian missionaries was brought to a children’s home. Now Richard is one of these who’s leading, literally leading a revival in his city. He is just praying for the sick seeing the sick healed, he has been restored, he is being loved, and he is seeing his community changed. There’s so many stories like Richard’s where God has taken the most broken, the most hurting, and He’s not only healed them and restored them, but He’s turning them into healers, He’s turning them into the ones who are changing their cities. God is willing to partner with anyone of us, you know it’s just that place partnering with His heart that releases us into that strategy room.
Sid: Alright what should we pray, what should we begin praying? Let’s be practical now.
Jennifer: Okay, we need to pray that God would first of all give us His heart. That God would give us His heart; that He would make us willing to see what He sees; to care about what He cares about; that He would truly help us to strip ourselves of just selfishness because selfishness is truly the great enemy of compassion. So we need to ask God to show us where in our heart we have selfishness so that we can be one who can partner with Christ. Begin to pray, pray for the poor. You know I believe that you can’t say you’re a friend of God and not care about the poor. I think it’s impossible because if you’re truly a friend of God you’ll care about what God cares about. He cares about the poor, the lost, the broken, the hurting, and so ask God to give His compassion for the lost, the poor. Then ask Him to show us God what can I do right here in Foley, Alabama, what can I do? Because there’s poverty all around us you don’t have to go to Africa. How can I help, how can I give? Is it sponsoring a child? Is it going down to the local shelter? Donating? Is it taking my kids to a 3rd world country instead of going to Hawaii for vacation this year? What can we do as a family? Let God show you. As we each begin to do our part you know we get to partner with heaven and things begin to change. So it doesn’t take much.
Sid: Jennifer that’s very interesting. As God was dealing with you the man that became your husband, Jonatan Toledo, God was dealing in the same area. Could you put Jonatan on right now?
Jennifer: Yes, he’s right here.
Sid: Jonatan was raised in Ecuador and when you were 15 years old Jonatan your mother asked you a very sobering question. What was it?
Jonatan: She said “Do you love God, you know, over everything? Is He really your first love?” When she asked that I said, I didn’t think twice to say “Yes, of course of I do.” That night I went and just before going to sleep I started to meditate about this. I was just thinking “Do I really love Him over everything?” The more I meditate on this I realized I loved everything He has given me. I love my family, my friends, I love the life that He has given me, but I felt like I barely knew Him. That really became heavy on my heart, and a desire started awakening in me to really get to know Him.
Sid: When you were still 15 your family was on a mission’s trip to El Salvador, and you were swimming in the ocean with your family, and what happened?
Jonatan: I was with my sister and it was only the two of us at this point. There was a big hole and this strong current, and so we we’ve been trying to fight this current, but even as we tried as hard as we could the current just kept pulling us into the deep. My father saw us at this point, but probably been 10 minutes of been fighting against the current. He runs towards us, but when he got there he realized that he couldn’t help us either. The current was too strong and so the two of us were just in travel. There was a point where my sister got separated from us, and I saw my dad, and sometimes supernatural happen I was able to hear what he was thinking. He was just having the hardest time because…
Sid: Now this is your father you saw?
Jonatan: Yeah I heard my natural father’s thought and he was saying “How can I choose one of them?” So I rapidly say “Go help my sister I’m okay right now.”
Sid: Were you okay?
Jonatan: Not really I was coming to a point where I barely have any strength. All my arms and everything started feeling so heavy, but my sister was coming to a place where she was really coming almost into a panic, like trying to swim as fast as you can, she can’t. She started saying “I can’t get out, I can’t get out.” So at this point my dad started swimming towards where she was. I started floating because I couldn’t swim anymore, so the current just started taking me into the deep. At this point I really thought I was not going to make it. There was no body on the beach, there was no body to help us, and I thought I’m really gonna die here. At that moment I had an open vision, and at the time I didn’t know what that was, I just saw a screen right in front of me and I started seeing my life since I was a little baby, and I saw just different situations. I saw the grace of God and just His kindness. So many times He protected me of things, and I also saw the things that I was ashamed of, things I never told anybody. My thought was “I’m really dying here and God is giving me a chance to die well.” So I just repent of all these things, and even though I thought I was dying I still had a small hope that God would give me a second chance. I just thought “I can’t believe I’m dying right now” and I felt like I didn’t live my life to the fullness. I felt like I was considered a good son, they always used me as an example for things and stuff, but I knew in my heart that I just did all the things that I thought were right to do, but I never completely surrendered my life to Jesus. I felt like my life was, I didn’t live to the fullness. I knew there was so much more that I didn’t walk into, and that was what was really killing me, that I was dying that day and I didn’t live my life to the fullness. So after I was coming out of this vision, I saw my sister was able to come out of the ocean, and my father just behind her. He was coming to that place where the hole started and it was actually one of the hardest places to be because of the current, that was probably one of the strongest parts where the current was. He turned around right in that point and he put his in front of him towards me and told me “if you get here you will save yourself.
Sid: This is your natural father.
Jonatan: This is my natural father.
Sid: Okay.
Jonatan: So I look at his eyes and I saw this desperation that I never seen before. When I had seen this I realized that I was seeing something more than just seeing my natural father. I was seeing the desperation that the heavenly father has, that we will actually come to His arms, that we will just swim towards Him and that we will be able to come to His arm, and to feel His desire that we will be where He is. So when I look at his eyes I felt like a fire coming from head all the way to my feet and it filled me with strength. So when this happened I was able to swim, and as I was swimming…
Sid: This is really supernatural strength?
Jonatan: Yes it was really supernatural because even before when I had my natural strength I couldn’t swim against the current. When this strength came I mean I was able to actually start going forward, but there will be a point where like all my strength will be completely gone out of my body again. I would look up again I would look at his eyes and I will be consumed with this desire again and I would feel this fire fill me again from my head all the ways to my toes and it will give me strength again to swim. This happened like about 5 times until I was able to hold his hand.
Sid: You know what Mishpochah as a result of this Jonatan totally surrendered to God and the compassion of God came into Him. We’ll pick up right here on tomorrow’s broadcast.
