Blessed by the Lord (Nyonya Belandina Selan-Kasse)

On 28-11-1988 when I was 15-year old I opened my heart to Jesus and started going around attending all the fellowship groups in town and help to reach out to other young people. My family being lukewarm Christians were very much against what I was doing. The Holy Spirit helps me to continue to be faithful in my service. I was seventeen when I met my husband while I was trying to reach out to him. We got married on 22nd December 1991. Though there was much love in our newly formed family but my husband wasn’t a very devoted Christian. I found out later that he was smoking, gambling and drinking behind my back. After marriage he prevented me from doing God’s work. He first stopped me from going to bible study, then I wasn’t allowed to go to church. Going out to serve was totally out of the question. There were times when I came back from Christian gathering and I would be locked out of the house and had to spent the night outside.

This continued for some time then my husband fell seriously ill. He had a tumor on his left cheek. The tumor spread to cover his left face. He couldn’t see with his left eye, couldn’t talk and was in pain most of the time. In vain we went from one witch doctor to another to seek treatment. Finally I decided that we should seek help from God. We approached a Christian lady who put some oil of my husband’s face and prayed over him. Miraculously after being prayed for, the tumor gradually reduced its size and finally it was gone without any medical treatment at all.

Around the same time I gave birth to our first child. It wasn’t a smooth delivery, after about a week I had to be admitted into the hospital again. I stayed there for two weeks but there wasn’t any improvement in my conditions. So I asked to be discharged and at home, I was helped by the same lady that has prayed for my husband. Again I recovered.

Even though we had experienced miracles from the Lord but my husband still had not changed. Our lives were still not totally devoted to Him. My husband was still holding on to charms and amulets* from the witch doctor. A few months later, my son fell sick. He was only five-month old at that time and he suffered very severe diarrhea and vomiting. He couldn’t drink milk at all. Whatever went into his mouth will be vomited out again. He became very weak and dying.

One morning when it looked like there was no more hope my husband suggested that we should fast and pray for the child. So we fasted, and around three in the afternoon we went out with the child to the Christian lady’s house to ask for her prayer again. As we were singing before going into prayer, the baby suddenly woke up and started to wriggle. We were very surprised for he had been very weak and inactive for the past few days. The lady went to the kitchen and scoop out two spoonful of rice to feed him. To our amazement the baby swallowed the rice without vomiting. So again, we see miracles with our own eyes for the third time that year.

From then on, my husband repented and now he encouraged me to serve the Lord actively. In the morning he will go out to sell fish from house to house while I look after the children and take care of the household chores. In the afternoon my husband will take care of the kids while I will go out to do God’s work. My husband is blessed with a good voice so now he would sing and share his testimony to Christian groups whenever there’s opportunity. Though we are not rich but our life now is very much blessed by the Lord.

(* Using charms and amulets are a way of life here. They used it to protect themselves and also to attack one another. Christians who don’t use charms protect themselves by diligently going for prayer meetings - there is one almost everyday!)