Our month in Nepal was one of my favourites of the race so far, for multiple reasons. We were pushed both physically and spiritually, through multiple different ministry opportunities. Part of the month was spent in Chitwan National Park (see previous blogs) and the other major part was spent trekking through the Annapurna Region of the Himayalan mountain range. During this time we were able to stay in a small, mountainside village with the local people there. We stayed in their homes and ate meals with them around traditional Nepali fires. During this village stay, we also got to pray over a local woman who was obviously very sick, and share to them why we were there and the reason we believe in healing & prayer.
I want to share the events that unfolded there, through the words of my teammate Jon, who has given me permission to repost part of his blog.
“We just got done with our second full day of hiking. We made it to this remote village where we will stay with the locals for the night before continuing our trek. As we find our beds and begin to settle down, a man spots us. He lives across the river and approaches our ministry host to speak with him.
I don’t know exactly what is said, but it is something along the lines of, “Hello Sir, I’ve noticed you’re with this group of Americans. I need to ask you something. My wife has gotten sick over the last three days and she is not looking well. Is there any way they might have some medicine or medical experience to provide us with answers or help us?”
Lucky for him we have both. Chloe, my squad mate, is a doctor, and others have plenty of medicine to share. We travel to his house and not only provide him with medicine, but it becomes a perfect time to share words of encouragement, love, and the Gospel with him and his family. Breier and I get to share some messages with him. We share the story of Jesus healing a man with leprosy and talk with them about the power and love of God. We also share Psalm 23, which speaks on the Lord being our Shepherd protecting, loving, and believing in us. The man and his family listen with open eyes, head nods, and open hearts. We didn’t know at the time that this is their first time hearing the Gospel, and the first time they hear that they are loved, honoured, cared for, and protected.”
As this man approached our host, I could hear the question, “Where is the doctor? Chloe? Dr. Chloe?”. It has been a while since I have heard those words, and honestly I immediately felt out of my depth, because really without the help of modern medicine at my fingertips, it is so hard to diagnose anything. I knew immediately I could provide simple things like Paracetamol and Ibuprofen and instructions on how to use them safely, but for the first time maybe ever, I knew I could help this woman by prayer. Real talk; before the Race I was not overly convinced by healing prayer, not that I didn’t believe that God was that powerful, but because I spend my life treating people with modern medicine and seeing how incredible it can be, and that is just my mind is wired now. I was able to not only give simple medicine, which was totally denied to this family at the health clinic because of their status as ‘untouchables’ (explained further below), but also pray over this woman for total healing. I also felt led and was able to read Psalm 91 over her (the scripture that was prayerfully sought & written on a key necklace for me that I was given at the start of The World Race by our incredible AIM mobiliser, Austin).
“After we share, the man tells us some of his story. He says, “I am a black smith; I make tools and metal objects, usually used for Hindu worshipping. But because my profession is not well respected, nether am I. People in my village look down upon me and my family. I’ve never heard of Jesus or the Gospel, only Hindu and our millions of gods. It’s through worship in temples that they find favour in us. But sadly, because I am a lower member in society, the others will not let us enter the temples. I have been kicked out, mocked, and even physically hurt for trying to enter. The only gods I know I cannot worship because I am not good enough.”
This absolutely breaks my heart. Can you imagine only knowing one religion, where the only way to be loved by the gods is to worship them, and you can’t do that? What would that do to your confidence and self image?
We tell him to not let the world define what his worth is. We tell him about God’s never ending love for us individually, how he honors us, and how no one is better than the next in his eyes. We get to tell this man he is loved, honored, qualified and worthy.
To be honest that hit home for me. I don’t know what he fully took away from our visit. Honestly that’s not for us to know. But I do know he listened, and I saw God move at this man’s hut. I saw a new light brought into this man’s eyes. And with that, maybe, just maybe, he realized there are better things to be persecuted for. Maybe he realized that a good God will not persecute you, and he wants us all to feel loved.”
The next day, I was able to go back to their home and see how they were. The woman who had been lying outdoors on a wicker mat the night before, sweating & groaning in pain, was sitting out front of their home, brushing her teeth and waving to us as we approached. She was completely restored to full health. Before this experience, I would have smiled politely and told you Paracetamol really does work wonders, but this time I smiled in amazement at how good God is. For the very first time, I can tell you I seen & fully believe that this woman was healed, because mere people like us were able to be vessels for God’s complete and restorative healing powers.
I work in modern medicine everyday at home, I have seen people get better against all odds many of those days, I know what that looks like, I know what healing through medicine is, & now I know what healing through Jesus looks like too.
All glory be to God.
Love,
C xo
