Topics: Deliverance; Depression; Despair; Emptiness; Guidance; Hearing God; Help from God; Hope; Overcoming; Perspective; Prayer; Suicide; Testimony; Trials; Witnessing; Worry
References: Psalm 23:4; Luke 19:9–10; John 8:32; Acts 16:25–34; Romans 8:28, 35–39
Kumar, a Christian in South India, was grieved because none of the thirteen people he had invited had come to watch a Billy Graham evangelistic broadcast at his home on December 23. He began to pray, and around 9:00 p.m. he felt compelled to invite his wife’s sister’s family to watch the next night’s broadcast.
The family had no phone, so Kumar asked a neighbor to bring them to the phone for an urgent message. When his brother-in-law, Satish, reached the phone, Kumar asked him and his family to catch a bus to the city. Satish said he had no money. Kumar encouraged him to borrow the money and said that he would reimburse Satish for the tickets.
Satish consented, and at 4:00 a.m. he and his family boarded a bus for the long trip to Kumar’s house. They arrived at 5:00 p.m., and an hour later they watched the My Hope telecast from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Afterward, Kumar gave his testimony and asked if the others wanted to put their faith in Christ. They were all looking at each other, and Kumar wondered why. Then Satish, noticeably distressed, stood and explained that he had lost his job because the tea factory he worked for had closed. Further, the company was demanding that the family vacate their company-owned house. Seeing no hope, the family had decided that on December 25 they were all going to commit suicide.
Now they saw they had hope in Jesus, so they prayed with Kumar to accept Christ. Satish said he felt like a new man. After staying several more days with Kumar, the family returned home ready to face the future with Christ.
—Bob Paulson, “My Hope: India,” Decision (March 2006)