The Person of Peace in Our Garden
Zoe, one of our workers in Indonesia, recently shared this story with us:
A couple of months ago we were blessed by the arrival of Sari into our lives. She approached our home one morning to ask if she could tidy up our garden for a pitiful wage, explaining that her husband was too ill to work. She did a diligent job and we were impressed with her attitude. It seemed significant that, that same week, we’d been praying specifically to meet a person of peace. We decided to get to know her better.
While she worked, my husband encouraged me to offer to pray for her husband, so I rehearsed a short one-liner prayer in preparation. Later, after Sari finished, I went out to chat with her. We sat side-by-side against the garden wall and I thanked her and gave her a fair wage for her hard work. I asked if I could pray for her husband to be healed in the name of Isa al Masih (the Islamic name for Jesus) and she agreed. No sooner had I finished than she began crying and opening up about her struggles. Aside from her challenge in finding work that day, she’d also been nervous about pleasing us, was surprised that we were kind to her, and was delighted that we could speak Indonesian. We relaxed in each other’s presence and laughed together, which seemed a special moment to me.
A few weeks later Sari came for a second shift in the garden. This time we asked if we could call round sometime to see her family at their home. “You absolutely can!” she replied happily.
It wasn’t an easy visit. Sari’s husband, Budi, is in very bad health. He used to be a soldier and had fought in some very tough internal conflicts in other parts of Indonesia. In 2018 he fell from a ladder and was no longer able to walk. Later, he suffered a stroke. He is also diabetic. Sari had to carry him into the sitting room where he mostly just sat and listened to our conversation. Occasionally as Sari shared about their lives he appeared overcome with sorrow. Sari also became emotional as told us about their struggles. They have two adult children – one has found work in Jakarta and the other is still living at home, studying at university and taking turns to care for her father. Although they could only afford to offer us water, not once did they ask for charity from us.
As we sat together my husband shared with them about how Jesus is able to heal, and about how God listens to them and sees their suffering. We asked if we could pray for them in Jesus’s name and they agreed, so we shared some time together in prayer.
Since then, we’ve decided to employ Sari on a regular basis so that she can have some more regular work. She’s come round to clean our home twice now and seems happy to spend a few hours here each week.
Please pray for further opportunities to share Jesus with Sari and her family, for them to come to know Him, and for God to work a miracle in Budi’s body.
