By A in Southeast Asia
As we settled in at the town gymnasium to celebrate sixth-grade graduation, one graduate, in particular, caught our attention. About seven years ago, this little boy fell off a domesticated water buffalo and was seriously injured.
When I visited him soon after the accident, he was stretched out on a mat on a relative’s living room floor, in too much pain to move or speak. The family had taken him to a local faith healer, but he still was not well enough to walk or go to school.
I do not remember the details of his injuries, but I do remember praying over the child in the name of Isa (Jesus).
The boy’s family remembers this prayer, too. As we went door-to-door in his community recently, gathering students for our summer values class, we encountered several mothers gathered in a hut, busy preparing food for the graduation celebration.
The relatives of this boy invited us to come back for a joint party for him and his cousin. The family told me: This is the boy that you prayed for those many years ago, and he got better after you prayed.
I am in amazement and awe and praise to God that even many years later, this family remembers that it was the prayer to our almighty and powerful God that brought healing to this boy!
This little boy was one of about 35 familiar faces we saw at the graduation.
We know these students because they frequent our center to hang out, come to English, computer or values classes during the school year, or have attended our summer values classes, which are similar to VBS.
Some of the students we recognized from our children’s tutorial classes, a preschool/kindergarten-style program we held back in 2008-2010.
In our summer values classes this year, we will continue sharing stories of Jesus. These children have grown up hearing that Jesus is a good teacher, but that’s often the extent of their knowledge.
Our lessons will include, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness — the Samaritan woman at the well,” “Blessed are the pure in heart — Zacchaeus,” and “Blessed are the poor in spirit — the rich young ruler.”
So many children will hear these stories for the very first time. Pray that these lessons would continue to penetrate the hearts of the students and that they would even have dreams and visions of Jesus. May they come to know him as the powerful healer of their hearts.
Hope and Light
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Photo by Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
