Persistence: Our Testimony

For the past 3 weeks we have been meeting with an 85 year old woman, praying with her and doing foot massage on her. The first day was awkward as she manifested such a spirit of doubt that it became almost impossible to try and convince her that we were not there to benefit anything from her, except that she may benefit everything from our God. As I opened the blankets enclosing her feet, I saw her almost hide some of the scars caused by her condition. She tried to curl them away from my sight and uttered “I have a skin disease.” These words of distress fell upon my ears as those of the man who had leprosy in Mark 1.

She’s been ill for a while; I thought, and has possibly lost hope of ever recovering. Initially when we prayed with her, she did not even want to say Amen, she kept saying that she does not believe she'll ever get well. This past weekend we again visited her and are grateful to see the Lord softening her heart, such that as we were about to leave her house, she requested we read a Bible story for her. What could best describe her situation than the story of the impotent man found in John 5? Her plea, like his was/is: “I want to be whole, I want to walk again.” For the first time since our visit to her house, we were met by the encouraging words, “I now understand, and pray that Jesus may heal me.” The glimmer of hope shining in her eyes made us think, what would have happened if we had decided to quit after the very first visit? “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” Isa 41:17

As we continue doing the Lord’s work, whether in Medical Missionary lines, Colporteuring, or Bible work, there are discouragements we meet along the way, there are times when we may feel like giving up, but God says, “Go Forward.”