I am very glad to be able to give a short extract from a soldier friend in India, just received. After expressing thanks for tracts, testaments, etc., he wrote he had been in hospital five weeks, was then sent to the hills; there it was feared he had contracted consumption, so had special treatment. Within a week doubts were justified and he was to be sent home. He writes:—
“However, I took the matter earnestly in prayer, saying, ‘Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean,’ and He heard my cry and answered, ‘Be thou clean’ (Mark 1:4040And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. (Mark 1:40)). In three days I was examined by the doctor; practically all trace had disappeared, and he said to me, ‘Well, you have lost your ticket; you are nearly well.’ He also said, ‘It is a wonderful improvement.’ I gained ten pounds in ten days, and cleared of all pain and sensation. This was three days ago. I now rest patiently, satisfied with the Lord’s work, and offer my thanks and praise to Him, who looked upon me, a poor sinner justified only by His blood and death for me, and lifted me up. I now hope to be clear of hospital life in a fortnight’s time, or a little longer. Of course, it all rests with God. We cannot speak with certainty of our future on earth, only of the joy in heaven with Christ. I gave one of the Testaments to a native soldier here. He is able to read English, and I hoped he would find it a blessing. He is a Roman Catholic. How good the Lord is to the lonely Christian, amongst those of the world, by giving us the means of communication, not only in thoughts, but by His Spirit, by means of the letter... Christian letters are a great pick-me-up for the pilgrim on his way.... Ever in His service: ‘Till He come.—E.B.”
Dear fellow-believers, how blessed to trust our Lord, and to leave all our pathway for Him to’ direct. Nothing is impossible to Him, although we know it is not always His will to heal our bodies, even in the apostolic days. Paul wrote of one, left at Miletum sick (2 Tim. 4:2020Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. (2 Timothy 4:20)). This one dear to his heart, we could not doubt, who “accompanied him into Asia.” (Acts 20:44And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. (Acts 20:4)), and “with him” (21:29).