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

(To access the entire “There is ALWAYS Hope” devotional series, please click here.)