Ex-Drunk Healed from Deadly TB; Now a Pastor

Amazonian Wednesdays 🌴

Israel and I recently sat down with Pastor Miguel, one of the jungle pastors we work with. This humble minister shared with us the amazing story of his salvation:

“I was a horribly worldly person. I was a drunkard and mistreated my wife. We had started a family together when I was just 17. She would often implore me not to go out and get drunk. I would snarl, ‘I’ll do whatever I want with my life.’

“In spite of the abuse, she stood by me. This included the day that I became gravely ill with tuberculosis. I was 23 years old. I grew worse and worse, until I was dying. I had not been able to eat in 17 days, and I looked like a skeleton with skin on. A scan of my lungs showed that only a tiny bit of one of them was working. The end was near.

“It’s painful for me to remember that time. The nurse assigned to my care was disgusted by me. She pushed my food towards me on the floor, using a broom, so that she could stay as far away as possible. She seemed to hate me.

“The doctor had said to my wife that she should take me home to ‘recover.’ What he really meant was, to die. At just that time, though, Gigi Avila came to our town. He held a big evangelistic campaign in the stadium. My wife went. She turned in a prayer request card with my name on it.

“The next day, a minister came to my hospital room. He was not afraid. He came right over to me and touched me. I muttered to him something about this being the way life goes. He joyfully pronounced, ‘Only if you don’t know God. Once you give your life to Jesus, everything changes. Life becomes abundant!’

“He told me that Jesus would heal me. I believed him. He asked, ‘Do you want to give your life to Him?’ I answered with all my heart, ‘Yes, I do!’ I prayed with him right then and there. The power of God touched my body, and I knew I was healed.

“He suggested to me, ‘If you believe you are healed, why don’t you take off that oxygen mask?’ I immediately did so, setting it aside. The nurse who disliked me so much then came in and saw what was happening. ‘Put that back on!’ she barked.

“‘I don’t need it anymore. God healed me!’ I exclaimed. ‘I don’t care if you’re healed, you’re going to make me lose my job. Put it on!,’ she insisted. I would not, so she called the doctor in.

“He looked me over, and I told him I was hungry. He pulled out his wallet and handed the nurse some cash. ‘Go, buy him a meal,’ he instructed her. Wide eyed, she obeyed. She soon returned with a heaping plate of food. I devoured every bite, and I was still hungry! My wife then brought some soup. I eagerly finished all of it off too. The doctor was amazed. He discharged me the next day.

“Eight months later, I became involved in the leadership of the local church I used to abhor. Within a year, I became the pastor.

“I have been serving the Lord ever since.”