Dr. Andrew John
We were halfway through our day and had already seen more than 200 patients, while the waiting room was still full. It was not a day that would allow time to witness. As I moved from patient to patient, I kept noticing a young man sitting in the waiting room. Our eyes met every time I walked by, and God spoke to me and told me to pause, take the time and go speak with this young man. I went and sat down beside him. He was in the last stages of cancer, his body ravaged by the disease. The young man asked me about my joy, “There is suffering and pain all around you; where do you find this joy?”
We must depend on God to open the doors of opportunity to share His word with the patients we treat. Imagine not being able to say the name of Jesus, but instead waiting for the opportunity to pray, to share the Good News, to witness. Knowing that this young man was not a Christian, I knew I must ask permission to pray with him and share the gospel with him. We prayed. We exchanged contact information. Even though this young man was resigned to his imminent death, he was searching for a way out of his darkness—he was searching for my “joy.”
God opened the door. I started sharing the gospel with this young man by sending Bible lessons in his native French to his phone. I prayed for him daily. One week later, the young man returned to the Hospital looking for me to ask if I would pray with him. We prayed. Another week passed when the young man’s brother came to the hospital to find me. He invited me to come to his brother’s house to tell them more about Jesus and to pray with them.
The young man accepted Jesus into his life that night. His brother asked if I could also pray with him before I left their home that night. He also asked if I could share more Bible stories about Jesus. I continued to send Bible stories to the brothers, sharing the good news of God’s love and mercy. It had been a little more than a month when I received a phone call from the young man’s brother. He said, “Today, my brother is in heaven!” We praised God together for his brother’s life that was saved!
The young man’s brother accepted Jesus and continues to share the Bible stories that Andrew shared with him to others in his village.
