When Passporter Marylou Springer and her teammates met Thida, she was bedridden after injuring her legs and back in a fall. Thida refused prayer, only accepting medicine and ice for her back. Then God touched her heart and she gave her life to him.

One night before Bible study in Cambodia, we heard about a woman, Thida, who had just fallen down the steps at her house and was badly injured. So we walked to her house to see if we could pray for her.

Thida was unable to walk for the first few days after falling, and yet when we asked if we could pray for her, she said no. But she welcomed medicine and ice for her back.

God put it on my heart to ask if we could come back and walk with her, and Thida agreed Before the fall, she used to exercise every morning but hasn’t been able to because of her back. So I made plans to come back the next morning with a couple of the girls.

Before leaving that night, we decided to ask one last time if we could pray for Thida. To all of our surprise, she said yes!

In that moment, we were able to see the Lord soften her heart, and we were more than excited to come back the next morning.

The next morning, minutes before 6 A.M., we made our way up the dirt road and through the field to Thida’s house. When she noticed us, her face lit into a smile. She tried to communicate in Khmer, her native language, but we didn’t understand. Thankfully, another translator was with us.

Our translator told us that she had been up since 4 A.M., walking around!

Thida said it normally took her a long time to get up and going, but that morning, she’d woken with ease. Her pain had lessened and her heart had softened. I could sense the joy of the Lord on her.

My teammate Emily shouted, “Preang la ah” (God is good) and Thida replied, “Ja, ja“! (Yes yes!).

Later we found out that Thida had never before been open to the gospel, and even greatly persecuted those that believed in Jesus. Now she was praising his name!

We realized in that moment that this was what the will of God looks like.

There is no way I could have imagined that  I would be in Cambodia, in some remote village, with two teammates I met a couple months ago, praying for healing for a stranger in her home.

God’s will is far from boring and beyond anything this world can ever offer.

For the next few days, we continued to visit Thida. One night before we headed to her house, our translator announced rather nonchalantly that Thida texted him earlier in the day, saying that she believed God healed her and she had put her trust in Jesus.

A woman who has spent her life worshipping Buddha and persecuting Christians confessed that she experienced the healing powers of the Lord and now believes in him!

We skipped the rest of the way to Thida’s house, and spent the rest of the night telling her more about Jesus and what it means to follow him.

The fact that God welcomed another daughter into his kingdom is awesome enough, but what is even more amazing is that God is preparing Cambodia for a revival. We are praying that it starts in this little village Thida calls home.

Is God calling you to share his love with the nations this fall? Click here to find out how you could serve him in Africa, Thailand, India, Costa Rica, or Ecuador!