“As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after You . . .” It was Friday evening, and our living room was filled with the peaceful sounds of our group singing praise songs accompanied by guitar and piano. Along with our normal group of local church members, a neighbor lady, Sopheup, was also with us. After we finished the song, Sopheup looked up with joy on her face. “I don’t understand the words, but it’s so peaceful. It makes my heart feel so happy!”

During our next song, the peaceful atmosphere was disrupted by angry shouts outside. Adam stepped onto our porch to investigate. In the darkness I could make out the form of a drunken man stumbling toward our house accompanied by two other figures. Sopheup came out on the porch just as the man began to climb our stairs. It was her husband Vut. She faced him and began talking to him. He shouted at her and raised his arm as if to hit her. She stood her ground, and he lowered his arm and calmed down. Then she escorted him down the road to their little home. Sadly, she didn’t come to any more of our Bible studies.

About a year later we heard that Vut was in critical condition. A large tree branch had fallen and struck the back of his head, fracturing his skull and causing his brain to swell. Vut spent a month in the hospital. Unable to do anything more for him, his doctors sent him home to die with an IV and a feeding tube.

Sopheup did all she could to make Vut comfortable. Boaz Church helped her administer the IV. Boaz later told us that Vut wasn’t able to eat, talk, sit up or walk. His brain scan showed large dead areas. Unless God performed a miracle, Vut would die very soon. Sopheup asked Boaz to pray for Vut, which he was happy to do.

Later that week, Adam visited Vut and Sopheup. Vut was still not doing well, but Adam noticed that he would point to things with his lips when he wanted something. Adam prayed with Vut and Sopheup as well.

Over the following month, our team ministered to Vut and Sopheup: bringing food, putting Vut’s feeding tube back in place after he pulled it out, telling them the gospel story and the story of the prodigal son, and praying with them and for them. As we ministered, Vut began to make amazing progress. He began to sit up and make eye contact. He began to eat without the feeding tube. One day he began to speak haltingly. Shortly after that, he began to walk with some help. God had performed a miracle!

Sopheup and Vut both started attending worship services as often as they could. One Sabbath Sopheup came to our house and asked if we could help bring Vut. She said he was upset with her for not bringing him to worship. What a change!

Recently, after attending a baptism, Sopheup has been asking questions about the compatibility of her cultural religion and following Christ. She noticed that after participating in some of her family’s ancestor worship, Vut started having bad dreams about demons. After talking with the Kiwi family about it, Sopheup and Vut began having their oldest daughter read to them from the Bible every evening before bed. They came back the next week excited to tell the group that the demonic dreams had stopped!

Though Vut’s recovery still has a long way to go, he and Sopheup rejoice in the Lord and continue to pray for greater healing. Their faces radiate new peace and joy. They are hungry for more, and we rejoice in the promise that “Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, shall be filled!”

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