Over the past several weeks, we have been looking
at God’s miracles of healing. We have seen that these miracles are both
miracles of spiritual as well as physical healing. We have seen that
miracles of physical healing sometimes mean He heals instantly, other times
they mean He heals us over time, and still other times, He uses the medical
system. Sometimes, however, His miracles of healing take on yet another
facet…We invite you to read the actual, recent testimony of our Brother in
Christ in India: Brother Suresh Manoharan…
When I was employed as an Inspector for 13 years
of Gasoline/Diesel fueling stations by the Indian Government, there was no
need for me to take a Family Medical Insurance policy as 90% of the medical
expenses of my wife and mine were reimbursed by my Employers. When the good
Lord called me for full-time Ministry, I quit that job. At that point my
wife and I were young and in good health. Why did we need to worry about
medical insurance?
This was my attitude, and while living on a
pastor’s salary in India, with no extra funds to spare, this did, indeed,
seem the logical decision.
My attitude towards medical insurance did change,
however, on June 2, 2017, when my wife was involved in an unexpected road
accident with subsequent hospitalization and surgery entailing an expense of
200,000 Rupees. Fortunately, due to recently-received funds from my father’s
will, I was not in dire need. Nonetheless, under the advice of friends, I
took out a family medical insurance policy dated June 7, 2017.
Unfortunately, since medical reimbursement by the insurance company in India
will only begin 2 years after the policy has been taken out, all we could do
was to pray that we wouldn’t need medical reimbursement prior to June 7,
2019.
And praise be to God, there were no further
outstanding medical expenses…Until May 10, 2019, that is…
I began having severe pain in my abdomen on that
day. I was diagnosed with kidney stones, and the doctors who administered
the pain-killing injections advised me to go for “Lithotripsy”, a procedure
where the stones are blasted or fragmented. It is, unfortunately a very
costly procedure in India, one that would normally cost about 80,000 Rupees.
I could only hope and pray that there would be no
recurrence of pain until at least June 7, 2019, for after then, should the
pain come visiting again, I reasoned that I would be in a position to
immediately undergo “Lithotripsy” without financial worries clouding my
mind. True enough, I had some savings; however, when given the choice, I
would prefer to not spend those savings on this medical procedure,
especially with the upcoming alternate option of “seeking shelter under the
Insurance policy”!
I praise God when I say that after those first
pain-killing injections, there was no relapse of pain until the night of May
27, 2019.
I must back up my story at this point to.
On May 20, 2019, I had the privilege of having
lunch with a young, upcoming pastor who we will call Peter. I had known
Peter for about 4 years and I had also preached in his church. Over the
course of these four years, there has been much mutual love and respect in
our hearts for each other. That day over lunch, Peter began sharing some of
the challenges he was facing in his ministry. As both of us needed to return
to our responsibilities of the afternoon, I felt inspired to invite Peter
and his family over for breakfast at my home, where we could further discuss
his challenges at our leisure. After checking our schedules, we decided on
May 28. As this also happened to be his son’s birthday, it was decided that
he would bring his entire family. We could have breakfast together, pray for
his son, and then while our wives chatted and the children played, we would
have time for serious discussion on the ways and means of resolving the
problems confronting him.
It was on the evening of May 27 that I received the second attack of severe
pain. Now why, of all days, would I get this attack of pain on the eve of my
scheduled meeting with Peter? Even though I had to cancel the breakfast
meeting, it all turned out to be divine providence at work.
Oral pain medication helped take the edge off of
the pain, but on the morning of May 28 I decided I would go to a certain
reputed hospital for “Lithotripsy“. I called Peter up to cancel our
breakfast meeting. In the process, I had to explain to him about my kidney
stone predicament. If it hadn’t been for the pain on May 27, he might never
have known about my problem. Peter was very sympathetic and empathetic, but
strongly suggested that I undergo “Lithotripsy” at a different hospital, one
that was closer to his home, one where he personally knew the urologist.
I was admitted to this hospital on May 31, I underwent the procedure, and I
was discharged on June 1 in the afternoon. From my admission, through the
”Lithotripsy procedure,“ and until I got discharged on June 1st afternoon,
there was Pastor Peter, full of brotherly love, co-coordinating with all the
Medical staff in that hospital, and taking full responsibility on all
matters. My wife who was visibly shaken because of my health travails, and
other relatives and church members watched in awe as Pastor Peter went about
exhibiting agape love from the ”beginning till the end“, so to speak.
But it gets even better! Pastor Pete paid my
entire hospital bill on my behalf! Even if I had undergone the procedure
after June 7, I would still have had to pay 20%. As it was, I left the
hospital without even a rupee leaving my pocket. I could only thank God that
I emerged from the hospital a Christian “Levite”, whose inheritance is the
UNCHANGING FAITHFUL God Himself (See Deut. 18:1-2/Joshua 13:33).
So how is it that this man of God on a pastor’s
salary could afford such a tremendously generous gift borne out of brotherly
love?
Two years prior, when he was not financially
stable, he suffered a fractured collar bone. A minimal medical expense of
100,000 Rupees loomed before him. He prayerfully looked to the Lord for
help, and the good Lord stirred the heart of a “secret believer“ in the
distant city of Bangalore. This believer came all the way to Hyderabad, a
distance of 560 km, and gave him – not just the 100,000 Rupees required, but
115,000 rupees! Once Pastor Peter’s finances stabilized, he began looking to
practically fulfill the Biblical command in Matt. 10:8: ”Give as
freely as you have received!“. He had been prayerfully watching for
an opportunity to say “thanks” to the Lord in a practical way, by helping
another Servant of the Lord in need.
And lo and behold, the good Lord showed him at the
right time that Yours Truly was the “needy one” to be helped. Hallelujah!
Interestingly, after a week of being discharged
from the hospital, I was made aware of another Pastor, Pastor Harish, a
Hindu convert who had also endured persecution for the Lord, who needed to
have his gall bladder removed…Well, we’ll just say that one good deed needs
to set off a chain reaction…For God’s glory!
God is very, very good. He truly provides for our
every need, and in this case, it was a miracle of provision.
Blessings,
Suresh Manoharan
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