A Sarah in India

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, October 10.

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

R

uchi was very sad. She had been married for three years and didn’t have a baby.

She and her husband, Deepak, visited doctors, and they prayed to gods of wood and stone. They did everything they could think of, but nothing worked.

One day, a 75-year-old woman named Shakina came to visit family members living in the same house as Ruchi. She heard that Ruchi wanted to have a baby and spoke to her.

“I believe in Jesus, who is the true God,” Shakina said. “Let me pray for you.”

Ruchi had never heard about Jesus, but she was delighted that someone wanted to pray for her. “I need your prayers,” she said. “I have been married for three years, and we have no children.”

“Children are the heritage of God,” Shakina told Ruchi and invited her to kneel on the floor to pray. Ruchi was used to kneeling to gods of wood and stone, and she sank down beside Shakina.

“Lord, let Ruchi’s womb be fruitful because Psalms 127:3 promises that ‘Children are the heritage of God,’” Shakina prayed.

The next week, Shakina returned to pray with Ruchi. She came again the week after that. “You know, you also should pray,” Shakina said. “You should have faith in Jesus just like Abraham did.”

“Abra-who?” Ruchi asked. She had never heard Abraham.

Shakina told the story of how Abraham and Sarah prayed for a baby. God answered their prayers by giving Sarah a baby boy when she was 90 years old.

Ruchi thought, “Wow, if God could give a baby to Sarah when she was so old, then He can give me a baby. I’m only 24!”

Ruchi began to pray every day for a baby. “Jesus, You gave a baby to Sarah. Give me a baby, too,” she prayed.

One day, Shakina told the story of Hannah praying for a baby and God giving her Samuel. Ruchi’s faith grew when she heard the story. She thought, “If God could give babies to Sarah and Hannah, then He can give me a baby, too.”

She began to read the Bible on her own. She continued to pray. A year passed. Two years. Three years. Four years. Ruchi kept praying and reading the Bible.

One day, she felt something unusual in her tummy. She immediately went to the doctor, and he announced that she was pregnant! Ruchi joyfully thanked God and called Shakina to tell her the news.

“I’m going to have a baby!” she exclaimed.

“Jesus has answered our prayers!” Shakina said.

Ruchi gave birth to a baby girl named Cash. A year later, she had another baby.

Today, Ruchi happily brings her two children to the Amritsar Seventh-day Adventist Church every Sabbath.

“Jesus is more powerful than anything else in the world,” she said.

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help construct a new church in Amritsar to replace an old and overcrowded church building. This is the church where Ruchi and her children worship. Thank you for planning a generous offering so Aradhana can worship in a nice, new church.