Tanmayee’s amulets jingled as she turned the pages of her husband’s Bible. She was searching for answers. It was a mystery why her husband, Nathin, remained devoted to Jesus despite her urging to reject Him.
He loves me, Tanmayee thought to herself, but is never willing to listen to me when I ask him to forsake Christ. These thoughts troubled Tanmayee’s heart often, and she wondered who the true Savior of the world was.
Christianity: A ‘Lowly Religion’
Nathin and Tanmayee grew up worshiping ancestral gods as their families had done for generations. Tanmayee strongly put her hope in religious jewelry to protect her from evil and harm. But after a few years of marriage, Nathin came to know Jesus as his loving Savior and urged Tanmayee to experience the love of Jesus for herself. But Tanmayee avoided every word spoken about Jesus. She wanted nothing to do with Christ.
“It is best to stick to our own religion,” Tanmayee told her husband. “Christianity is not for us; it is the religion of [lowly] people.”
Eager to grow in his walk with Christ, Nathin would invite Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor Maagh over to their house for tea and Bible study. Out of respect, Tanmayee would sit with Nathin and Pastor Maagh while they talked about Scripture and prayed together. But Tanmayee never liked it, and she often complained to her husband.
Though Nathin showed love and respect to Tanmayee, she was embarrassed about his decisions to follow Christ. She mocked Nathin and felt ashamed of him around her relatives and friends.
In response to Tanmayee’s reactions, Nathin treated his wife with extra love and care. Instead of backing down when things grew difficult, he stood strong in his faith. He would encourage his wife, saying, “Jesus Christ is indeed the risen Lord.” And through Nathin’s gentle words and loving heart, little seeds were planted in Tanmayee’s heart.
Stomach Pain Reveals God’s Power
One evening as Tanmayee was getting her daughter ready for bed, she suddenly felt a pain in her stomach. It grew until it became unbearable. Nathin quickly called for Pastor Maagh to pray for his wife.
When Pastor Maagh arrived, he found Tanmayee squirming in pain with a group of relatives and neighbors gathered around her bedside. Pastor Maagh shared Matthew 8:17 aloud: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”
After sharing how Jesus was the healer of the sick, Pastor Maagh prayed, asking with faith for the Lord to heal Tanmayee. By the time his plea was offered up to the Lord, Tanmayee had calmed down and began to drift off to sleep.
Everyone around her bedside grew amazed. They started murmuring and questioning among themselves how Pastor Maagh healed the hurting woman without using herbs or medicine. Pastor Maagh assured them it was the Lord Jesus who had healed Tanmayee.
Answered Prayer and Answered Questions
The next day, Pastor Maagh visited Nathin’s home to check on Tanmayee. Tanmayee was completely healed, and instead of greeting the pastor with her normal unhappy reception, she welcomed him. Pastor Maagh asked her how she developed the sickness, and Tanmayee began to unfold the events of the last evening.
She had been pondering why her husband believed in Christ and started looking through Nathin’s Bible. When she came across a few Scripture passages in the Gospels, her heart was touched. Tanmayee began to pray and told the Lord that if He was the true Christ, she was ready to give her life completely to Him. Shortly after this prayer, Tanmayee suffered the attack of stomach pain—and the miraculous healing.
Facing Opposition
Through her healing, Tanmayee realized Jesus was the risen Christ, and she decided she would follow Christ no matter what others said. After Tanmayee made this decision, everyone she knew opposed her for her choice.
But with a confidence much like her husband’s, Tanmayee expressed to her opposers that she had come to realize for herself the truth of God’s Word. She had long questioned it, but she carried firm resolve to no longer reject Jesus, but to worship Him faithfully alongside her husband.
Find out how another man came to know Jesus through the young woman he fell in love with.
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