I don’t know how she missed me as she slapped Balmathi across the face.
She approached us out of the crowd that had gathered around. She was speaking Nepali and her tone was harsh as she wagged her finger at us.
Balmathi was a woman we met during our time visiting some slums in Kathmandu, Nepal. She approached me pointing to her head then to me and holding her hands in front of her making the gesture signifying she wanted prayer.
Kristin and I laid our hands on her and as soon as we began to speak, Balmathi collapsed.
We slowly lowered her to the ground and kept praying as we sat with her in the mud.
The crowd gathered and many people tried to tell us she was just drunk and we shouldn’t help her. They openly scoffed and though I couldn’t understand their language, what they had to say sounded awful.
Kristin tried to explain as best she could that we didn’t care if she was drunk, we just wanted to love her. But the language barrier proved to be a problem.
As Balmathi continued to sit unconscious on the ground, she was leaned up against my chest. I just held her and continued to pray. But my praying turned to crying after I could do nothing to protect her from the verbal and physical attacks by her own people.
I cried and prayed over her with Kristin for quite some time which only drew even more attention, but we didn’t care.
Eventually, we just knew the time was right and our prayers ceased (or at least the ones we spoke aloud) and Balmathi woke up from her stupor and smiled at each of us.
She pulled us up from the ground and took us to her home.
It was a small shack maybe 100 yards from where we prayed and she had us sit inside with her.
We spent a while just sitting in her home with her. We couldn’t speak each other’s language, but that didn’t matter because love filled that place. And love transcends every boundary.
Our time at the slums ended that morning with us having tea and singing songs with Balmathi.
I’ll probably never see her or hug her again. The thought of it makes my heart hurt.
But I believe the time Kristin and I spent in prayer over her can change the course of her life. I can have faith and believe that the presence of God is in the slums of Nepal and He is doing an incredible work there.
Because, after all, we travel from place to place bringing the Holy Spirit with us. We’re only there for a short time, but even after we leave, Gods’s presence remains everywhere our feet have tread.
I fully believe His work continues long after we leave and I know it was started long before we even arrived.
“…For He who promised is faithful.” -Hebrews 10:23
Photo by Nathan Hauser
