God's Transforming Power

We know a dear family who has been seeing the power of God at work in some remarkable ways in their family.  The mother, who is probably in her 50s, and her daughter, now about 20, were two of the very first believers in the small town where we lived.  They came to Christ about eight years ago.  There is a son who is about 30 years old now.  He was a big, strong, handsome, young man and most of the past eight years he has strongly opposed both his mother and his sister.  He has made life miserable for them.  He was into drugs, alcohol, chasing women, etc., all the while mocking his mother and sister and their newfound faith.  He would not work, but rather mooched off of them and would even steal their money and sell their furniture and other possessions in order to supply his habits.  Eventually the mother with great courage kicked him out of the house.  This went very much against the tide of the culture and various people accused her of being a terrible mother. 

He ended up moving away to another city, but later came back to terrorize them again.  He came back to them and they helped him recuperate for a while and then he went off again.  All the while he was verbally abusive and mocked their faith.  Finally, he once again became extremely sick from alcohol abuse and someone found him lying on the street.  This person found his cell phone and ended up calling his mother and sister, who were in the same city. The sister, whom he had beaten, mocked and verbally abused, came to his assistance. She found him and took him to a hospital but the hospital said he was too sick for them to help.  They said it was only a matter of time before he would die.  The sister however, eventually convinced the hospital to admit him.  At the time she reported that he had holes in the veins in his arms large enough for her to put her fingers into!  Miraculously he slowly started getting better.  He eventually recovered to the point where he was released from the hospital. 

The love that his sister and mother showed him was so powerful that he finally started asking questions about Jesus. He ultimately came to the point where he recognized that Jesus is truly the Son of God and he put his faith in Him!  Now he is just finishing up an 18-month rehabilitation program run by local believers for drug and alcohol abusers and he is reportedly a new man!  God’s love and power are so amazing!  May all the praise go to Him!  News of this kind makes us all the more eager to return to Central Asia and continue ministering to dear people such as these.

- Anonymous, Central Asia