-By Dick Duerksen
Here’s something I’ve learned in life: A woman’s purse is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. Some, like this one, are even filled with miracles!
Jeevan is the wife of a Gospel Outreach pastor who serves in North Rayalaseema, India. She is also a trained health worker who represents Ultimate Mission in the villages where her pastor husband is working.
Pastor Bhaskar: “Before Ultimate Mission trained Jeevan to be a local health worker, I was able to visit only in the Christian homes of our villages. Now, her work has opened all of the village doors. Now I just go with her, since she has been everywhere!”
Jeevan’s work is to wander through the villages, make friends with the women, and listen. Almost every woman has a health need in their family. “How can I care for my baby who doesn’t want to eat?” “Why does my daughter cry all of the time?” Why can’t my children gain weight?”
When visiting, Jeevan sits down with the women and opens her miracle purse, extracting something from within its folds to help answer the woman’s questions.
What’s in the purse? I had to know, so asked Jeevan to take me on a tour.
“Well, it’s not really just a purse, it’s my medical kit in a beautiful bag made for me by Belinda Reynolds in Oregon, USA. Here, take a look”
Stethoscope
Blood pressure cuff
Thermometer(s)
Charcoal tablets
Hydrogen Peroxide
Asprin
Ibuprofen
Neosporin
Tape Measure
See what I mean about there being more room inside!
Where’s the miracle?
Jeevan’s miracle show up most clearly in two books that fit into her purse; the Holy Bible, and Where There is No Doctor. “The Bible shows me hope and love and happiness and encouragement,” Jeevan says. The No Doctor book gives me practical health tips for how to care for anything!
Even for delivering babies?
“Yes. I’ve delivered several babies as an Ultimate Mission health worker, so another birth is not frightening to me. However, one day a mother told me that she was hurting terribly and was afraid she might lose her baby. I took her to our regional hospital and they agreed that this was going to be a very difficult birth.
'How much can you pay?' the hospital staff asked.
When the mother answered that she was very poor, the hospital sent her home. The next day she was hurting even more, so I took her to a maternity hospital. They, also, said this was going to be a very difficult delivery.
'How much can you pay?' the hospital staff asked.
When they learned that my friend was poor and couldn’t pay for a difficult delivery, they threw her out.
We went home together. I took my miracle books out of my health bag, and then helped deliver a very healthy baby boy. You can see him running around the village. He and his parents are very happy."
That’s the kind of miracle you’ll find in Jeevan’s health bag. Miracles that come with skill, training, hope, and encouragement.
“I pray all day every day as I walk from home to home,” smiles Jeevan. He’s the one who does the miracles. I am just His hands.”
Two volunteer mission organizations make this daily miracle possible:
Gospel Outreach and Ultimate Mission.
In India, Gospel Outreach trains and funds pastors.
In India, Ultimate Mission trains and funds the pastor’s wives as community health workers
Though both organizations work in multiple countries, here in India they work together to transform the impact of the Gospel in hundreds of villages.
When two of God’s excellent organizations get together, their impact is enlarged far beyond what either can do alone. It’s rather like Jeevan’s purse – bigger and better than possible!
