Gospel for Asia (GFA World) Updates & Reports from the Mission Field

Hatisha had no one to rock to sleep at night. After five years of happy marriage, Hatisha and her husband, Mandan, remained childless.

Everyone Hatisha knew said she was “bad luck” because she was barren. She was kept away from baby showers and even from being near people’s children. Hatisha lived in disgrace.

Motherhood: An Unfulfilled Dream

The pain of rejection was not the only grief Hatisha bore. Whenever she saw a mother with a child in her arms, tears ran down her thin, youthful cheeks. Hatisha longed for a baby of her own, but she had lost hope that her dream of motherhood would ever be fulfilled.

Hatisha bore her heartache alone until, one day, her husband came home and found her weeping in their room. Mandan asked her why she was crying. She first said it was nothing, but then, her grief trickled out.

“We have been married for five years, but we do not have a child,” Hatisha explained. “It is very painful for me. Why don’t we go to some hospital or visit a [temple]?”

After realizing the hardships his wife faced because of her barrenness, Mandan agreed to do everything he could to fulfill his wife’s desire. The couple went to the hospital and visited several temples. Then the bad news came from the doctors: Hatisha had a problem with her uterus. And even though she took the different medicines prescribed by doctors and offered many prayers to their gods, nothing brought them the gift of new life that they sought.

Hopelessness Meets New Faith

Life continued on for Hatisha and Mandan; however, it was a deeply sorrowful existence for Hatisha. One day, when life seemed especially grim, a lady named Lucia noticed Hatisha’s depressed demeanor as she worked in a field.

“Why do you look so down?” Lucia asked. “What happened to you?”

Unrestrained tears tumbled from Hatisha’s eyes, and she poured out her heart. Lucia listened and shared how God had done a miracle in her own life and encouraged her.

“God will give you a child,” she said. “Have faith in Him.”

Lucia talked about her church and how it had been a blessing in her life. She encouraged Hatisha to go there for prayer. Lucia’s words gave Hatisha reason to hope again.

After that day in the fields, Hatisha and her husband went to the church and asked for prayer. Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor Kunja comforted the couple and shared the testimony of Hannah and her miracle son, Samuel, from the Bible.

“God will bless you with a child,” Pastor Kunja said. “You only have to pray and believe.”

Faith and Fulfilled Desire

From that day on, faith continued to grow in the couple’s hearts as they attended church and learned more about Jesus’ love and healing power. Mandan, believing in the power of prayer, decided to pray and fast for 40 days for a child. One week later, God answered as Hatisha conceived; and after nine months, the couple held their newborn son.

With joy in her heart, Hatisha proclaimed her thanks to the Lord.

“I am so much thankful to the Lord Jesus for giving me a child,” Hatisha said. “I had no hope for a child in my life, but God has changed the impossibilities and blessed me with a child.”

Mandan, too, remembered and glorified God, who answered his prayers.

“We had gone to many hospitals and temples, but we did not get a child. Today, by God’s grace, we became parents of a child.”

Today, Hatisha is holding her treasure, a beautiful gift from the Lord. She trusts the same One who answered Hannah’s prayers, which was recorded in the Scriptures so many years ago. Hatisha knows God is alive and hears the prayers of men and women like her.

Find out how prayers in a delivery room changed a young couple’s life.