Broom Beater

I’ve had many answers of prayer in my life and would like to share one with you.

As a child, I studied at the school in our village. After passing the standard exams, I was accepted into the Adventist boarding school of Gowalbathan. I came to know many things about Jesus Christ while studying there and decided to accept Him as my Savior. I was baptized there and learned more about Jesus day by day.

I’ve had many answers of prayer in my life and would like to share one with you.

One day, I was visiting house to house in our village. Suddenly, I heard the sound of crying. I immediately went to the family and learned that the mother was crying for her daughter.

“What has happened to her?” I asked.

Through her tears, the mother told me that her daughter was suffering from a very high fever, and sometimes her body would go into convulsions. “She’s not getting well,” the mother said. “Our priest came and prayed for her, but she still isn’t getting well and her temperature continues to climb higher.”

I asked whether she would like me to pray for her child, and the mother immediately accepted. We knelt down and I humbly prayed to our Almighty God—who heard and answered our prayer. Just one hour later, the mother came to me, her face beaming. “Teacher, my daughter is walking now. She’s completely well. Really, God is with you.”

New Church and School

The Thanarbaid Seventh-day Adventist Church is new. This year we also started a school. Unfortunately many of the villagers tried to stop it from being built. They treated us meanly and were personally opposed to me and my family.

I had been praying with some of the villagers every evening. In this way, God softened their hearts that had been so hard and pitiless as they tried to stop the work. Now there is no problem, and our new church and school are running well by the grace of God.

We usually have family worship every morning, but in the evening we worship together with our neighbors. We sing and praise God regularly and always have weekly worships, too.

A Call to Preach

My favorite Bible text is Ecclesiastes 11:1—“Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days” (NKJV). Why do I like this verse? Because it tells us to preach. Jesus tells us to preach. If we don’t preach, the trees and rocks will cry out! I prayed and told God, “Oh Lord, I’m going out to preach about you. I don’t know how many will accept you.” But I had great faith that people would accept Jesus when the Holy Spirit touched their hearts. I was so happy when, after I preached for about two months, eight persons accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

One day, I was going to preach in another village. I kept the Bible in my bag. Suddenly, someone came to me and asked, “Where are you going?”

I told him that I was going to a certain village. He said, “Please don’t go. If you go there, a woman will beat you with her broom.”

“Why would she do that?” I asked.

“Because you converted her eight friends. Now they are Seventh-day Adventists, and this woman is very angry because she has to drink wine alone—now she is totally friendless.”

“I’ve been working for God for a long time,” I told him. “But I have never yet been beaten for the name of God by anyone. I think, if that would happen, it would be very meaningful to be beaten for God’s name.” So, I decided to go to that village.

When I arrived, the woman was angry and told me that she had been waiting to beat me with her broom. But, something amazing happened! As I came closer to her house, she became calm and quiet! She even said, “Perhaps I can become a member of your group one day.” I am sure that this was a result from the power of prayer.

An Honest Question

Chandiapara, another village, is full of Roman Catholic Church members. There is not a single Seventh-day Adventist in the village. So, I went there with lots of prayer and my Bible in my bag. One day, I met a young man who asked, “Why don’t you observe the Resurrection Day instead of Saturday?” Then I read Genesis 2:1, 2; Exodus 20:8-11; and 31:14 to him. He listened very carefully, then said, “I haven’t heard this before.” And he then added, “I want to become a member of your church!” He accepted Jesus, and after more Bible studies he was baptized. In this way, an unknown youth became a Seventh-day Adventist after hearing God’s Word. I really feel so much happiness in my heart when I share God’s Word with others.