Imagine you’re 55 years old living in a town where reputation and appearance is everything. You work to buy more things to keep up with your neighbors and coworkers. People don’t smile in passing. Friendships are surface level. You don’t feel known, because you live in a society that teaches you that you’ll only be loved if you have a mask on. You are Montenegrin- therefore Orthodox. Church and state aren’t always separate; there is nationalism. If you leave Orthodoxy or seek a relationship with God beyond the Orthodox churches walls- you are no longer Montenegrin and will be shunned by your friends and family. They will say you are part of a sect; a cult.
One day, you’re sitting at home and the police knock on your door and arrest you. You don’t know why, but you comply. You find out you are somehow tied to a bank robbery at the mall. They traced your phone number and found you guilty of robbery.
17 days you spend in a dark cold cell with drug lords and criminals of the highest offenses.
Surprisingly, they welcome you as one of their own and treat you better than family. They even wash your socks.
You do your time and then spend the next 6 years battling the charges in court. None of your friends talk to you, because reputation is everything. You lose your job. Small town people walk by with their judging eyes. Your life turns upside down.
One day on your way out the door, you step out and feel your left arm go numb. All of the stress from the past 6 years has built up and manifested itself into the physical.
Your chest is tight. You clench it with your hand. The entire left side of your body goes numb. You think you might be okay and try to take another step. Your son cries out from the balcony above and you hit the ground. THUD.
You’re having a stroke..
Flash forward to Thursday, September 16th, 2015.
The day I met dear Vasilije.
He is one of the most positive people I met during my entire month in Montenegro.
When you see his smile, you see light.
It’s uncommon to see someone express joy here and Vasilije is full of it.
Time went on and he mostly recovered from the jail, reputation, job loss situation.
But unfortunately, he’s experienced pain in his left knee for about 6 years now.
He leans to the side when he walks to compensate for the pain.
Every morning, he wakes up and his knee hurts.
He walks 3 kilometers to the park every day to strengthen it and make it feel better.
His wife is an orthopedic nurse. He has seen many specialists to diagnose the cause and treatment for the knee pain. They could never figure out why its happening or how to help it.
We sat with him at my favorite park and listened to his stories.
Toward the end, I felt the Holy Spirit move me to pray for his knee.
I thought no that may be weird, I felt my heart sink for a second and just went for it.
I said, “can we pray for your knee?”
He said “da, molim.”
So I put my hand over his knee and Klara and Cassandra put their hands on his shoulders and I prayed like I meant it. I meant it more than ever.
I believed it would work more than ever.
Afterward, his face lit up.
We talked some more and he asked if the three of us could meet up with him again tomorrow for cake.
So we did. We met at the park and walked a few blocks down to an adorable cafe in the heart of Podgorica, Montenegro. He bought us the most amazing chocolate cakes! It was so sweet (pun intended). Just then three more of our teammates walk in the little cafe and he offers to buy them cake too! This meant a lot for a retired man who makes no new income to buy 7 chocolate cakes in this economy over a prayer.
He said, “you wouldn’t believe it, I woke up with no pain in my knee this morning!!” “Look!” and he proudly showed us how his knee bends freely and he walks upright.
I was astonished.
I prayed that his knee would stay healed and that it could be a testament to his wife, kids, and grandkids, that God isn’t some historical figure in a book, but a living working king, who is still making miracles happen.
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:6
Flash forward again. One week later- we run into Vasilije at the Mall of Montenegro.
His knee was STILL great. I couldn’t believe it. This is the first time in my life I’ve seen a prayer come true like that. We only ever ran into him once more before we left the beautiful country of Montenegro and somehow never got his contact information, but his beautiful soul made the biggest impact on my heart while we were there. It’s almost like he was God’s gift to me for ministry that month. I pray that our paths will cross again one day.
