A True Story from Nepal

In 2001, Sook carried his wife, Shanti, on his back in a basket over the hills of Nepal. His wife couldn’t walk, and Sook had exhausted every known option in search of a cure for her illness. But on this day their hope had been renewed, and his loving gaze detected a new look on her face.

     “Go see the Christians,” a medicine man had advised them. “I’ve heard that they pray for desperate people and that their prayers often work!” So they went—the last anxious act of a desperate couple.

     While Sook and his wife visited the Christians, they prayed for them and shared stories of the one true God and his power to heal. They even told the couple that everyone could be healed of their sins against God simply by trusting in the person and work of Jesus.

At the end of the day, Sook and his wife started the long journey home—both feeling strengthened by the Christians’ words.

     As they rested during the trip, Sook noticed that Shanti had begun to move! He reached for her, but she stopped him. In amazement, she told him that she was beginning to feel some strength, so much so that she wanted to try to walk. Miraculously, she could. They had not even made it back to their village, and the prayers of the Christians were already being answered. 

    Sook and Shanti joyfully agreed: “This Christian God is real! We must return, hear more about Jesus and follow him.”

This reading first appeared in the College Devotional Bible which I served as General Editor. Reprinted here with permission of Zondervan.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/93563935@N00/9314993/