In parts of South Asia, Muslims and Hindus live side by side. With two vastly different belief systems existing in such close proximity, some people will dabble in both religions.
Umme has been crippled in one leg for years and had tried both Hindu and Muslim rituals to find healing. Nothing worked, and she remained desperate to find a solution. So, when an East-West short-term mission team arrived at her village with a message of good news, Umme wanted to hear what these foreigners had to say.
Jordan and Beth, two of the short-term team members, entered a house full of people waiting for them to share. Umme sat on the floor with her crippled leg outstretched. Beth began by sharing her testimony and weaving in the gospel. Eventually, the crowd grew larger with a group of young Muslim men joining to listen. Though Beth shared how Jesus had transformed her life, no one seemed to be responding to her story.
Jordan then began to speak from an apologetic approach, trying to appeal to the crowd’s intellect. Some people seemed interested in what Jordan shared, but the group was still unmoved. As Beth looked around the room, she saw Umme sitting on the floor and felt compelled to pray for her healing. She and Jordan knelt down next to Umme and began praying. While they prayed, Beth, who is a doctor, checked Umme’s reflexes to see if any nerves in her leg were working.
Soon, other team members came to the house after visiting another village and joined Jordan and Beth in praying over Umme. The short-term missionaries gathered around the woman, fervently praying for God to perform a miracle.
Dozens of prayers and reflex tests later, Umme’s leg remained still. Both the team and Umme had faith that God could heal her leg, but God had chosen not to. It was getting late in the day, and the team had to leave for their next location. They prayed for God to do amazing things after they left, and the team members began to file out of the house.
As Jordan was about to leave, he felt a tug on his heart to say one last thing to Umme. He grabbed his translator, knelt beside Umme, and said, “If you had been healed today, you would have enjoyed years of being able to walk again. But one day, you still would have died. And when you die, what will your hope be in? You heard Beth and I share the story of Jesus, how He died for your sins and can give you a new life. You heard how He has the power to do that because He rose from the grave three days after being killed. Those who put their faith in Jesus have a promise from Him that when He gives us eternal life, we will receive new bodies that, like His, will never pass away. I want you to have faith for an eternal body where you can walk with Jesus forever. Do you believe in Jesus?”
Without a second thought, Umme said, “Yes.”
That night, Jordan was wrestling with what happened earlier that day. Umme was the only person to accept Jesus in her village. Though Jordan was happy that Umme came to faith, he thought of how many other people might have put their trust in Jesus if God had healed her leg.
As Jordan brushed up on apologetics to prepare for more gospel conversations, he stumbled across a story from Josh McDowell:
“A brother I personally know was telling me about seventeen people in a group of former Muslims. Every one of them had seen visions or dreams of Jesus. One of the men asked this brother if he had seen Jesus in a vision. He replied, ‘No.’ The man put his arm around my friend and said, ‘How blessed are you! You have not seen Him, yet you love Him, and you serve Him.’ Then he added, ‘We have no excuse; we have seen Him face to face!’”
Jordan was deeply comforted. He thanked God for leading him to that story so he could be reminded how great Umme’s faith is to have trusted in Jesus without experiencing the miracle of healing. While Jordan still prays for God to heal Umme, he rejoices in the greater miracle of her new life in Christ, and he knows her body will one day be healed for eternity.
“Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” -John 20:29
Names have been changed for security purposes.
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