This past month, we were traveling around Himalayan Mountain villages to continue to disciple new believers. Our hosts went to these places when no one even heard about the Gospel. Our teams hike 1-2 hours to reach them and preach, before hiking home.
“This must have been how the apostles felt,” Margaret said as we laid down for the night.
9:30PM
Random Himalayan Village
James, our host, knocks on our door. We are all flustered because we were getting ready for bed. What we didn’t know is that God planned more ministry for us today.
“There is someone here who is sick, will a few of you come pray?”
Of course. Margaret, Christa, and I walked into the next room. A mom was sitting on the floor cradling her ten year old daughter. The young girl wouldn’t look at us. She was pressing into her stomach, but her mom only mentioned heart pain.
Margaret and Christa quickly jumped into action. They asked her basic medical questions, inquired what kind of help they’ve sought out, and what exactly hurts. This little little girl’s whole body is in pain. She still won’t look at us or answer basic questions in Nepali.
I could sense that Margaret was onto something. She could sense that there was something more going on than sickness. This little girl had demons inside of her.
Side bar. I thought this was a bunch of bible aged hoopla for years. Demons didn’t really exist in this realm, right? People that believe this kind of thing in America are crazy, right? Wrong. Spiritual warfare is so much more apparent when you are in foreign countries. When we remove ourselves, we see it for what it truly is, the enemy at work. Please take the rest of this story with a grain of salt, especially if you have never done international mission work. We all have a lot to learn about how to fight against Satan.
10PM
“Her mom needs to leave,” Margaret said confidently to our pastor. Marge walks in such authority in her spiritual gifting. She can sense the spiritual world in such a different way than I can. She explained to us that she senses three spirits inside of this little girl causing her pain as a result of generational sin. When we tried to pray, she only looked up to her mom. She wasn’t responsive to the prayer.
This little girl was terrified. Her mom started crying inconsolably. All I could do was hold her mom’s hand and look her in the eyes. I could tell that she trusted me.
10:15PM
I ran into the other room to warn the girls and prep them to pray for the mother. Turns out, we have met these ladies before. Danielle and Elena, our translator, met her at church the previous day. They were told that the mom had tried witchcraft to heal the little girl and saw a red monkey go into her.
At this point, I am getting a little spooked. We asked the mom about this. We learned that she came because all other gods failed her. She wanted to try Jesus too.
The mom entered the room and I returned to pray for her daughter.
10:45PM
We prayed deliverance and healing over this little girl with Margaret’s guidance. Jesus cast out all three demons and healed her of her sickness. She was smiling and looking us in the eye for the first time. The Lord prompted Marge to give her a new name, the Nepali word for peace.
Santi rested as she waited for her mom.
At the same time, the rest of our team prayed hard with the mother. The pastor came in to share the gospel with her. She tore off her bindi (the red dot on her forehead) and threw it on the ground. The mother decided to follow Jesus.
11PM
Mother and daughter are reunited. They are all smiles. When the mother learned of her daughter’s restored health, she was overwhelmed with joy.
We laid down and rested. I was overwhelmed with what the Lord had done. How crazy is it that this woman came with her daughter from several villages away to reach the Christian people? She needed to try one last god, the true God. The only God that never fails. Thank God.
“This must have been how the apostles felt,” said Margaret.
Amen.
