THE MIRACLE IN BANGLADESH
By Pastor Justin and Jacquie Ryan
John Wesley, a theologian, evangelist, and a great leader in the revival movement once said, “You only have one business on earth and that is to save souls.”
This is something we believe sincerely in our hearts. Missions are what runs in our blood. We have been serving God in church since our teenage years, but our first mission trip changed our lives forever. Something awoke within us and as the months turned into years, and God began to open new nations to us, the passion to reach the nations for Christ grew stronger and stronger.
One Voice Ministries was birthed in 2008, and we juggled work and ministry for many years. In January 2014, we took a step of faith, left our full-time jobs, and stepped fully into the call of a missionary. Over the past 12 years, God opened 10 nations to us, and even through the COVID 19 pandemic, 2 other nations were added through our online courses, i.e. America & Kenya.
William Carey a minister, translator, and missionary called to India, once said “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” This was in our hearts as we made our way to Bangladesh on missions. We were willing to do anything and everything for the glory of God. Little did we know that there was a miracle waiting for us in that nation.
In 2016 we were invited to train and equip pastors and leaders in Bangladesh. We conducted training from morning to afternoon with the pastors and in the evening people from the entire village would gather in the church for an evangelistic meeting. The majority of the people in the village were unbelievers mostly from the Hindu background, but they all came knowing it was a healing service.
Towards the end of the service on one of the days, we had an altar call and an elderly lady came up to us crying and asking us to pray for her daughter who was hospitalized. Since the daughter was not there, her mum stood in proxy and we ministered to her. God then moved us to ask her where the hospital was, only to find out that it was 20 minutes from the village. We offered to go to the hospital after the service.
At the end of the service they served us dinner and then we got ready to depart for the hospital. There was an increasing level of faith that was rising up within us and somehow the enemy did not like it. We just knew that God wanted us to minister to this lady. She was about 7 months pregnant and there were some complications and there was a high chance she would lose the baby. The enemy tried every possible way to stop us from going and it was so evident.
As we made our away to the little taxi that was waiting for us, it was a little motorbike that had a seat that could take 3 people behind the driver (similar to the ones we see in India that is called an Auto). The minute we reached the place where the taxi was parked, the engine died! The driver tried to restart the engine again and it refused to start. We knew that it was the enemy preventing us from going. We paced up and down praying as the driver and our mission partner tried to fix the taxi which eventually started working after about 10 minutes.
As we started our journey to the hospital, within 5 minutes out of the village, the headlights failed. We knew it was not just a coincidence because the driver kept apologizing to us frantically saying that his vehicle was perfectly fine. Here we were in the middle of a village that had no electricity, and as we moved through the narrow trunk road, our mission partner held up the torchlight from his handphone to shed some light for the taxi driver.
In about 15 minutes, we reached the hospital and it was the most frightening journey we ever had. Yet, in the midst of that darkness, our level of faith was rising up even more within our spirit. We could just sense that God was about to do something great.
The young girl, Sorosoti, whom we were asked to minister to was seated there waiting for us with her doctor. As we spoke to her, we found out that this was her fourth pregnancy and she had lost her babies from all the previous 3 pregnancies. She would carry them till her final trimester and then there would be some complications and the child would be stillborn. This was what she was going through again and there was a fear that history would repeat itself.
All the methods that had been used did not work and as we spoke to her, we noticed that she had a string around her neck. As we asked her what it was, she said that her father had gone to see a witch doctor who gave her a bottle with some mixed potions inside and told her to tie it around her neck. She had done it but there was no change.
Our faith level began to rise up higher and higher as she spoke and we told her that what all other gods could not do, Jesus will do in her life because Jesus never fails – He works miracles. We led her in a prayer of renouncing every hold of the enemy, we removed the string and bottle from around her neck and shared Christ with her.
All throughout this time, as we laid hands on her stomach, it seemed to be as hard as a rock. We began to talk to her about Jesus and led her in the salvation prayer. We then laid hands again on her stomach and began to speak healing and fullness of life into her unborn child.
Within minutes, things began to change. There was a glow on her face, her stomach began to soften and her baby started to kick. She began to rejoice and praise God. The amazing thing was that throughout all of this, the non-Christian doctor stood at a distance watching us intently. As we ministered to this young lady, in our spirits we also prayed that God would touch the doctor.
As we stepped out of the hospital we knew that we had the victory in Christ and the enemy was defeated. What’s more, our taxi driver stood there in amazement because all of a sudden, his headlights were working! We made our way back to Malaysia a couple of days later and kept in touch with our mission partner to get updates on the mother and child as we continued to pray for her. Two months later, our mission partner called us and shared with us the good news that she had given birth to a healthy baby boy. She is now being nurtured to grow in her faith in Jesus.
That entire episode taught us a valuable lesson about increasing faith. It made us realise that when things get difficult and we feel as if all that is around us is pulling us down, the last thing we should do is step back. On the other hand, our faith should be pushed to the next level and we should persevere and not give up. Faith that increases may not always make sense to those around us but then again our focus should not be to make sense but to allow God to make miracles!
The more the enemy tries to work things against us, the more we should push in prayer, and only then will we see the victory. We thank God that through this one event the mother was saved and we continue to pray that her entire future generation would be won for Christ. All the more we still continue to pray for the doctor who witnessed everything that happened and we pray this has planted a seed in her heart to know and understand the power that is found in the name of Jesus.
This is just one of the many miracles we have experienced in the mission field. Seeing the power of God at work in the nations, moves us to do more and step into the interior areas and reach the UPG (Unreached People Groups).
About the Ryans:
The Ryans have been involved in the mission field for more than 12 years. Recently, the Lord has led them to found Issachar Academy where they provide training specifically for missions in a hospitable environment. Besides missions, the Ryans also help Christians recognise and move in their seasons with God. To find out more about their ministry, you may visit their website at http://onevm.net/
