As we sat in a small room, dimly lit – all crouched closely together, we prayed fervently over a woman on her deathbed.
A mother of 3 little ones, a wife of a faithful husband, a daughter of a Hindu family – she lay under many layers of covers, slowly dying; the life gradually draining from her body.
Ice-cold and pale as a sheet, she lay unresponsive with no strength to speak, let alone open her eyes.
Her family was already in the stages of grieving and mourning her death when we arrived – they assumed she would pass away in the night…we were their last resort and attempt to save her.
Her children watched from afar as we sat around their mother and prayed for healing over her physical and spiritual body – confident that our God would restore her health in the midst of the Hindu belief surrounding us.
A testimony that would never be forgotten.
We prayed for full restoration, for cognitive awareness, physical responsiveness, and spiritual healing that would reveal her salvation in Christ.
As we prayed and worshiped over this woman, one of her daughters came into the room with hot water and a spoon. We stopped what we were doing so the woman could rehydrate. We began to sit her up but it was like trying to set a completely limp, heavy noodle upright on it’s own – impossible. She had no strength to sit up, so she leaned on our host, Joyti, as her daughter tried to spoon feed her the water. With every spoonful taken, she grew even more weak and could no longer swallow after the 7th spoonful…it just dribbled down her chin instead. She was dying right before our eyes.
We laid her back down and placed the covers over her cold body with a warm bottle of water tucked away between her feet and began praying even harder this time. She was not meant to die yet. We refused to believe her time was coming to an end – for God had spoken “REVIVE” over this woman’s life…she was not going to die anytime soon.
One of my teammates, Amber, knelt down beside this woman, grasped her cold hand in her warm ones, and prayed like her life depended on it. We all placed our hands over this dearly loved mother and cried out to our Heavenly Father to restore her health and transform the hearts of her family. That they would see Christ at work in their home before their very eyes. That they would know the truth that would set them free and bring them eternal life.
And a shift began to happen – the room was filled with the Holy Spirit in that moment. We asked the woman how she was feeling and she softly responded with a short sentence! Progress was being made – God was healing her! She said she was feeling slightly better. Her body was beginning to warm up and she was responding to our questions! Praise God!
As Amber held her hand and prayed, we sang song after song in praise to our Father who heals. We spoke many words over this woman and her family and said a final prayer to end our time with them. Hoping and praying that she would regain health and be better by morning. We promised to return in the morning to continue praying over her…she was not called to die yet.
So we left the family, confident that God would continue healing her through the night, and happily returned to our home.
When we woke in the morning, I was anxious to get back to the woman’s home. I wanted to see how she was doing and continue praying over her. When everyone finally woke up and was ready to go, we made the 5 minute journey over to her house. I was so anxious and excited!
We walked up to the door of her home and peered in, asked if we could come in and pray over the woman again, and went directly to the room where she was the night before.
And my heart dropped at the sight of an empty bed…it was neatly made and the woman was nowhere in sight.
This couldn’t be right, she was getting better when we left. There’s no way she’s gone – it can’t be true! Incredibly confused and disappointed, I turned from the bed and began walking out the door only to face a woman sitting happily on a bed adjacent to the door. She looked kind of familiar…gazing into her eyes, I saw a knowing light that beamed with joy. And in that moment it hit me – this woman was the sick woman we prayed over the night before!! She was sitting up ON HER OWN, she had color back in her face, she was warm and completely responsive!
Was this real?!
Amazed at Gods work of healing over her life, we all knelt down next to her and prayed protection over her life. We thanked God for restoring her health again. Afterwards, we came to learn that one of her family members had given their life to Christ because of the healing they witnessed! Amazing and beyond worthy of praise to our God.
This deathly sick woman was totally restored both physically and spiritually – God REVIVED her in spirit, body, and soul.
A beautiful transformation.
If I was only in Nepal for this very reason, it was all worth it! Even though I’ve been homesick for India, there has been a purpose for being in Nepal – ministering to the people here. I’ve been blessed beyond what I thought possible and God has once again shown up in the most unexpected ways!
As hard as this month has been for me emotionally, spiritually it has been incredibly beneficial. God has shown me many glimpses of His power, care, and love for his children over and over again. It doesn’t matter where I go, God continues to remind me that He is right there with me in the thick of things. And that makes everything alright again. Even when my heart aches for India and I don’t think I can bear the homesickness anymore, God shows up and puts everything back into perspective again.
I will REPAIR its broken places, RESTORE its ruins, and BUILD it as it it used to be. – Amos 9:11b
