He saw it himself

By Tohru Inoue | Sudan and South Sudan in East Africa

Image of Doro, South Sudan, by Neil Sandoz.

God is showing himself. Just ask the SIM workers who walk the villages and refugee camps in South Sudan.

A man had a stepdaughter who suffered the oppression of demons. He had tried everything he knew to free her. What father wouldn’t spend their life savings to take his child to every hospital he knew to get help? What father would not search everything that Google could throw at him for the possibility of a cure? Anyone would use all available resources at their disposal to look for a remedy. This man didn’t have those hospitals with access to the latest advancements or the internet to do research. He used what resources he had.

He was a traditional healer.

Don’t be hard on him: that’s the tool he knew. It was the only resource available to him. But all the tools of his trade failed. She was also passed around from one traditional healer to another but none of them could help her. What do you do when you’ve exhausted all your resources? What would you do after you’ve visited every hospital, every specialist you could think of?

With nothing else to do, the young woman’s mother brought her across the Sudan border to the refugee camp in South Sudan.

After exhausting every option there, her mother took her to God’s house: a church in the refugee camp. It was a little church, which met in the shade afforded by roughly cut wood poles and grass roofing. There, a SIM worker taught a lesson on baptism to a small group. It must have been the Spirit who drew his attention to this woman.

“Come, let us pray for you,” the SIM worker said.

The young woman fought back violently, though it wasn’t her doing the fighting. When they prayed, she laid down on the ground as if dead. Still, they continued praying for her.

And God did something. 

Until then, when people had come to call on the family, they had been a little uneasy or embarrassed.

Where are they keeping her today?

Will she burst out and interrupt the conversation?

Will I have to look away from her father’s pained eyes when she manifests?

But from that moment on, those visitors saw someone they didn’t recognise, someone new. That’s what she was: a new person.

"That’s what she was: a new person."

That man got his stepdaughter back.

After seeing the change, he accepted Christ. His wife now has committed her life to Jesus and attends the church’s women’s group. The young woman’s aunt and another person living in the household also came to know the great healer.

That stepfather was baptised.

A young lady was healed, and because of that healing five people came to know Jesus.

“The household belongs to Christ,” the SIM worker said.

The believers never preached a word to that man. He just saw all that God had done.

And that was enough.

Pray for:

• People to see the works of God.

• For the churches in the refugee camp to continue to grow.

God is showing himself. Just ask the SIM workers who walk the villages and refugee camps in South Sudan.

A man had a stepdaughter who suffered the oppression of demons. He had tried everything he knew to free her. What father wouldn’t spend their life savings to take his child to every hospital he knew to get help? What father would not search everything that Google could throw at him for the possibility of a cure? Anyone would use all available resources at their disposal to look for a remedy. This man didn’t have those hospitals with access to the latest advancements or the internet to do research. He used what resources he had.

He was a traditional healer.

Don’t be hard on him: that’s the tool he knew. It was the only resource available to him. But all the tools of his trade failed. She was also passed around from one traditional healer to another but none of them could help her. What do you do when you’ve exhausted all your resources? What would you do after you’ve visited every hospital, every specialist you could think of?

With nothing else to do, the young woman’s mother brought her across the Sudan border to the refugee camp in South Sudan.

After exhausting every option there, her mother took her to God’s house: a church in the refugee camp. It was a little church, which met in the shade afforded by roughly cut wood poles and grass roofing. There, a SIM worker taught a lesson on baptism to a small group. It must have been the Spirit who drew his attention to this woman.

“Come, let us pray for you,” the SIM worker said.

The young woman fought back violently, though it wasn’t her doing the fighting. When they prayed, she laid down on the ground as if dead. Still, they continued praying for her.

And God did something. 

Until then, when people had come to call on the family, they had been a little uneasy or embarrassed.

Where are they keeping her today?

Will she burst out and interrupt the conversation?

Will I have to look away from her father’s pained eyes when she manifests?

But from that moment on, those visitors saw someone they didn’t recognise, someone new. That’s what she was: a new person.

"That’s what she was: a new person."

That man got his stepdaughter back.

After seeing the change, he accepted Christ. His wife now has committed her life to Jesus and attends the church’s women’s group. The young woman’s aunt and another person living in the household also came to know the great healer.

That stepfather was baptised.

A young lady was healed, and because of that healing five people came to know Jesus.

“The household belongs to Christ,” the SIM worker said.

The believers never preached a word to that man. He just saw all that God had done.

And that was enough.

Pray for:

• People to see the works of God.

• For the churches in the refugee camp to continue to grow.