A Glimmer of Hope

We entered into the dark room and saw three faces illuminated by the light coming from the door. A woman and two small children. They were bundled up with hats and scarfs and laying on a cot.

The two children quickly got up but the woman remained. The woman shifted in bed a little and as she moved, I noticed that her spine was as crooked as a winding river. I noticed her unused crutches propped up in the corner. A victim of polio. My coworker asked me about the disease process of polio. And I didn't know what to tell her. Hasn't that been eradicated? I thought....

The women's eyes filled with physical and emotional pain. Pain is an every day occurrence around here. It becomes easier to just pass it by without much thought. But this lady wore her pain on her sleeve. She had a pain that you couldn't just pass by. The tension in this woman's eyes made her young face look old. She spends her days laying on a cot in a cold and stale room.

'There is no God, I don't believe in Him. WHY WHY WHY', she said over and over again as she lamented about her misery. A South Asian believer, R, had come with us to help us translate. R told her story about how she had come to faith and how God had changed her life. The woman looked at R and uttered cold words that I will never forget. 'I don't believe you....'

What could we possibly tell this women? How could we possibly show her God's love? I prayed "this would be a great time for a miracle Lord" It really will take a work of God to intervene in her life. We spent several hours with her. We offered her words of encouragement, tried to answer her questions... tried to love her the best way we knew how. Darkness was quickly coming so we knew we had to go. We prayed for her before we left. As we exited the room I looked back to see her sad eyes watching us. "Come again" she said weakly.

Was that a glimmer of hope I saw in her eye?