Faith Beyond Measure

“I always tell God, thank you for being my surgeon, thank you for being my anesthesiologist… I thank God for my ability to do anything.”

~ Dr. Sarah

Recently, SEAPC decided to partner with John Bishop Memorial Hospital in order to help build a nurse training center. Over the course of 52 years the John Bishop Memorial Hospital nursing school has become famous in Kashmir for its excellence, especially among its students and their families Without Dr. Sarah’s faith much of this wouldn’t be possible.

When Dr. Sarah was young, her mother, Radha, had an appendectomy at a mission hospital in Rajahmundry. While there,  the doctor felt led to pray with her. Radha was struck by how easy it was for this doctor to talk directly to God. As a practicing Hindu, she had always wondered why there were so many gods and became curious about Jesus. The amazing care that she received at this hospital—paired with the timely prayer from her doctor and the message she heard about Jesus—made Radha believe that Jesus was the true God. This hospital visit also planted a dream in her heart for her daughter, Sarah, to one day become a “missionary doctor.”

Fast forward a few years and Sarah had a personal encounter with God while in medical school. She remembers kneeling down and telling God, “people say you are a speaking God. Speak.” In response, Sarah felt led to read Psalm 16. Unbeknownst to her, this encounter would alter the course of her life.

After working in Andhra Pradesh for 17 years as an obstetrician, Sarah began meditating on Moses – how God called him and brought him into new lands. Her heart yearned for an experience like this, for a people to serve and love. A pastor told her about the John Bishop Memorial Hospital and their need for a doctor. He then asked her to consider going there for a month.  When Sarah mentioned this opportunity to her friends, they were vehemently against her going. They told her that she was mad and warned her of the cold temperatures. In response, the Lord said, “I died for them… Why do you think of snowfall?”

And with that, Sarah decided to spend a month in Kashmir.

The need for a doctor in this region was great. At the time of her visit, the hospital had been closed for years. Within one month, she performed three c-sections and 75 tubectomies. Sarah stayed the entirety of her commitment and felt sure that it was God’s will for her to return one day.

A few years later, Sarah turned in her resignation to the hospital in Andhra Pradesh and returned to Kashmir where she has faithfully spent the past 21 years reopening both the hospital and nursing school.

These two decades have not been easy in an area filled with political unrest. To give you a small glimpse, when she first arrived, four militants attacked the hospital; seizing everyone’s valuables at gunpoint. Later, someone crushed glass into Sarah’s sugar supply. She became aware of this and nearly died. Miraculously, after prayer, she was completely healed.  In her own words, “the more we face troubles and violence, the more we grow in faith and prayer.” She definitely is a woman whom exemplifies both attributes.

Please join us in prayer for our brothers in sisters in Kashmir. Pray for Sarah, the nursing teachers, staff, patients, and nursing students.  Believe with us to see Kashmir changed, one life at a time.