Already a cardiac patient for 17 years, I began experiencing pain that was much more severe than ever before. Ultimately I had to be taken to a specialised-care hospital in our capital city of Bhubaneswar. It turned out that I had suffered three heart attacks, any one of which could have been fatal. When I was taken on a stretcher for an angiogram, my mind was filled with many questions but also a favourite scripture verse: ‘I will never leave

you nor forsake you.’ Immediately I felt comfort in knowing that the Lord was with me.

The discovery of three blocked arteries required immediate

angio- plasty procedures. Through all of this, God provided medical pro- fessionals, medicine and money. The church and other friends and relations were praying for me. I have always believed that healing comes from God, and after a few days in the hospital I returned home – a living testimony to being healed by the grace of

God.

Each one of us may face very difficult and painful times, but

accord- ing to the Bible, God will never leave us nor forsake us. Based on a life- time of experience with the Lord, I can join the apostle Paul in saying, ‘Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’. 

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for being with us during the most crucial times in life. Help us to grow in faith. Amen