A true joy since arriving and doing ministry in Godoloho has been hearing the testimonies from believers in the village. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got here concerning how these folks came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. I had no preconceived notions because I knew how different life was here and people’s proximity with the spiritual world was so acute. I was sure that the story of how they came to faith would not be a typical answer you here back home. But what I heard and continue to hear had me listening in awe, wonder and amazement and praising God.
Nearly every testimony was a prolific story that invariably involved the supernatural. There were miraculous healings, visions and dreams. As time passed by I realized this to be the norm. I couldn’t wait to hear another story. I’m going to tell the story of one woman in Godoloho named Saa’ Bea whose testimony involved a miraculous healing, a dream and a steadfast faith of Job-like proportions.
As I sat down under the refreshing shade of a mango tree during a typical mid-morning Godoloho day eating watermelon and enjoying a cool breeze that would soon be forgotten as the hot mid-day afternoon hours arrived Saa Bea told me the following story:
She had been a believer for a while but her husband not (very typical scenario here). She had contracted some type of debilitating illness that essentially left her paralyzed below the neck. She told she couldn’t even lift a spoon to feed herself at more severe stages of this illness. She was a complete invalid and was at the mercy of her family to take care of her. She prayed fervently everyday for healing from God. She put her trust in Christ and said never doubted he would heal her. The unbelievers in her family and fellow villagers saw her feeble condition and urged her to seek healing from a Bonuman who would use magic, oracles, and other various forms witchcraft to attempt to make her well. She rejected all offers and held fast to her faith as sole healer. As time passed and her condition failed to improve, she was persecuted with increasing intensity as she would not even give the traditional medicinal treatment of the Aukaan people. Her neighbors derided, ridiculed and continued heaped abuse on her. They even made threats on her life and tried to convince her husband to divorce her and thereby remove his financial provision and care. One of her daughters, Esma (a Christian) stuck with her through this great time of trial and suffering. She tended to her needs during these years.
Then one day she had a dream. In the dream she saw Jesus. She said his face was as bright as the sun and his clothes a brilliant white. He told her in this vision to take a particular plant and make a certain wash with water and bathe in it. As she could not raise herself to retrieve the plant needed to make what the Lord had asked her to make, she begged her husband to do it. He did as she asked and she washed in it for three days. On the third day, she rose up and walked. An absolute miracle! All people in the village were in awe and acknowledged God’s power and his mercy towards Bea. A story of this magnitude was too wonderful to not ask others in Godoloho and surrounding villages. I asked two men who are non-believers about her and they both corroborated the story: She was paralyzed and became well miraculously.
As I sat in awe-struck wonder I posed the question as to what was the response to all those who witnessed the power of your God and your steadfast faith in the face of unrelenting opposition. She calmly answered that they did not deny the Lord’s power but did not come to repent or accept the God who did what no one else did or could. My eyes began to well up with tears as I saw the awesome power of Jesus and at the same moment the hardened, stubborn, rebellious and unbelieving human heart. I was quickly brought back to the Gospels in which Jesus did miraculous signs and wonders demonstrating his divinity and power over and above the entire world and everything which plagues and hinders humanity: even death itself. Pray for the Holy Spirit to soften hearts in Godoloho and the interior or Suriname. He’s revealing himself to many and bringing to himself those whom he is pleased to bring.
I couldn’t help but see in Saa Bea’s story Jesus words in the Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus:
“No father Abraham,’ he said, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
He said to him, ‘if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” -Luke 15:30-31
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