It was a bright, sunny Sabbath day. We entered the church just below our village, blinking a moment as our eyes adjusted to the dim light inside. We saw people sitting at long wooden desks singing in Khmer. When the song finished, we moved right into the Sabbath School lesson about prayer as the heartbeat of revival.

As the pastor led out, occasionally asking questions, there was minimal response until he asked if anyone had answered prayers they would like to share. Immediately several people responded. First, a lady who had never been to church before asked us to pray for the pain in her legs. Next, Ma, as Josh affectionately calls her, told about how her son had been bitten by a cobra. “With these snakes, only one bite victim out of a hundred lives,” she said. “I prayed earnestly for my son every day until he miraculously recovered.”

Then a grandmother gave her testimony. She had suffered numerous health problems, going from doctor to doctor accumulating medical bills, gradually selling off land to pay them. She went from temple to temple praying for relief but finding none. She believes God answered her prayers by sending the pastor who led her to become a Christian. Now her pain is gone, and she still has land!

Periodically, the noise of someone cutting firewood with a chainsaw next door drowned out the speakers. One person mentioned they had prayed it would stop, and it didn’t run during the rest of Sabbath School.

It is a blessing to serve a God who answers prayers in ways that deeply touch our hearts, no matter what language we speak. We look forward to one day sharing with you how your prayers for the salvation of the Great River People have been answered.

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