A Long Ride to Patmos

In October, I was able to travel to Turkey to see the 7 churches that John wrote to in the final book of the Bible, Revelation. One of the extra journeys we made was to the island of Patmos, where John was exiled. I usually get seasick when I ride boats, so one of the members on the trip gave me some ointment to put on my ears which I hoped would help. For the first part of the trip on the small boat, I managed okay, but once we switched to the larger ferry boat I started to feel the turbulence and waves. About 30 minutes into the 2nd ride, I began to get nauseous and had to throw up.

Now earlier on the first smaller boat, we happened to have met another church group also touring the 7 churches. There were 2 ladies, Deborah and Holly whom I had briefly met before that saw me in pain and struggling and came to my side to pray for me. This really was an answer to prayer and was God’s way of sending angels to me because as they prayed over me, I felt more at peace and healed. In a way, it was a little strange because they were quite charismatic, but I realized it was the Lord’s way of showing me how he uses people from all walks and ways of life who follow Him to build and encourage the entire body of Christ. Overall, although I may never willingly go back to Patmos by a 10-hour total boat trip, I had a special encounter with the Lord on my journey to Patmos. Through this experience, I also gained a much deeper understanding of what the disciples and Paul may have gone through whenever they were sailing across the sea and through physical storms.