The village was stricken with major illness. Along with the rest of the people, many believers were impacted.
Katrina came to Bill and Kelley Housley and told them that an entire group of sick believers would be taking a canoe upriver and from there, they would hike into the “house sick” (the government medical aid post).
“She looked terrible,” Kelley writes, “and as I watched her walk weakly away, I wondered if she would survive the trip. They were leaving the next day.”
There were so many sick people, all desperately sick. One young boy was so afflicted that his lower torso was markedly swollen.
Bill and Kelley felt glad to know that the aid post once again had a practicing doctor and they prayed for their sick friends as they departed.
The canoe ride was only the beginning of the journey. Next there was the hike for several hours through deep mud pits that had once been trails, now washed out by the heavy seasonal rains.
Arriving at the aid post after this rigourous journey, the desperately sick people received sad news. They found out that the doctor was gone and would not return for several days.
As bitterly disappointing as this news was, the tired believers remarked to one another, “Well, if one of us dies, we are in God’s Hands.”
During the trip back, the acute swelling in the boy’s lower torso began to disappear. Soon he was able to walk on his own. Katrina’s breathing gradually became less laboured and soon she, too, could walk unassisted, able to keep up with the rest of the group.
Kelley hadn’t heard any news yet from the group of travellers when she headed to the village to teach a class the next morning. She heard a lady’s voice calling from one of the houses she passed. Kelly assumed the voice was Katrina’s sister who was not sick.
She looked with amazement when she saw that the voice came from Katrina who had been so terribly ill. Katrina, who now sat up strong and smiled and extended her hand to offer Kelley something to eat.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes!” Kelley writes. “Two days ago, this woman looked like any minute could be her last!”
As Kelley listened to the story of God’s undertaking for the band of very sick travelers, she was amazed.
“I didn’t get any medicine and I didn’t see the doctor,” Katrina was saying, “but I talked to my Father and He really does have all the power and helps those who need Him. I am giving a big thank-you to God today!”
“There were other stories but I haven’t heard them all myself, yet,” Kelley shares.
These believers are celebrating together the power and goodness of a God Who hears and answers prayer.
Kelley says the village ladies’ group is currently studying Proverbs and how God made everything in wisdom. “That includes us and our feeble bodies,” she adds. “He made them and He can heal them.”
The missionaries are encouraged that God is moving. “He moves when we pray, so please don’t stop praying,” Kelley asks.
Praise God, along with Bill and Kelley Housley and this group of believers, for showing Himself mighty to save. Pray that God will continue to mature believers as they study His Word and trust Him with their lives.