They call him grandpa and today my heart broke for this man. It was just another day at the lepor colony….
A few days ago we sat with this man who is suffering from leporsy. I did not stay long with him that day, but today when we went back my heart hurt for him like never before.
We sat there with him and his wife in their dark cemented one room home. His wife sat faithfully by his side, in shock due to the recent death of thier only son in an accident and now she is losing her husband. Hopeless. Nana (that means grandpa in Hindi) was hunched over there on the floor…wearing just a cloth around his waist that hid his weak and skiny legs. The rest of his body was fragile and bony, his arm was swallon and bubbled up with an infected sore, missing fingers on one hand, his hair, long white and stragly with a beard to match. It broke my heart to look at his wrinkly face into his dark brown eyes.
As I looked deep into his teary eyes I saw suffering, pain and emptiness. It was like he has nothing to live for, a life of hopelessness and time of waiting to die. I never felt so helpless in my life. We could not do anything to ease the pain, we could not even tell them about Jesus because we speak different languages. I looked deeper and deeper into those eyes, still searching for something more but all I saw was an empty, hopeless, hurting spirit that longs for something more! I wanted to cry as we prayed and prayed, but no emotions came until now as I sit and write this. We prayed Jesus heal him, help him, take away the pain, let us share your love with him. I don’t even know….anything!
Although I saw hopelessness and emptiness in his eyes, I felt as though I was looking into the eyes of Jesus. His eyes were filled with love despite the pain and suffering reminding me of the greatest sacrifice on Earth…God sending His only son to save us all from our sins… A gloriously painful image of Nana that shows me Jesus. Man! I wish I had a picture of Him so you could see how beautiful this man is, made in the image of God!
I don’t know what else to say, it hurts me to see people living a life of hopelessness. Jesus loves them both so much, the great healer, comforter and Almighty. My God is bigger than Leporsy and the pain that comes with it! How to pray for something like this I have no idea, I do not understand his ways, or how he wants to use us there, but I pray they can see Jesus in our smiles, hear Him in our voice and laughter, and experience His love just by us sitting by his side rubbing his back and holding his hand. I pray the Holy Spirit can supernaturally come and minister to his empty broken spirit! That our words of Jesus will be heard and understood to them in their langauge!
Why is there so much suffering and hurt in the world? Do they know who my God is, do they know Jesus!? Suffering when you know Jesus changes everything. Yes, it still hurts your flesh and is painful, but to know you are suffering for the sake of Jesus and living for an eternal purpose changes everything. He will never leave you, nor forsake you! Put your hope, trust and faith in the Lord. Plant your roots deep into the soil of the eternal hope we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! He never intended it to be this way. Our God is good. He always loves, he hurts when we hurt and works in so many ways we cannot see!
Lord! How do you want to use us!? We are pleading on behalf of Nana and his wife! I trust Lord you are working in miraculous ways specifically the one of salvation! 🙂 Use us however you wish so that one day Nana may walk, run, laugh and smile with us for eternity on the golden streets of Heaven.
