If This Is My Last Day To Live

“I slipped and there was a pipe that blocked me. I couldn’t run. Then a wall of bricks hit me. I was stuck under the wall.”

These are the words of nine-year-old Cynthia. For the second time this year, disaster has struck Nias in Indonesia, killing more than 500 and injuring thousands more. When Cynthia’s father brought his daughter to an Operation Blessing medical camp, he told us of a daring rescue of his daughter who became trapped beneath one of the house’s walls.

“When I tried to rescue my daughter,” he says, “she said ‘If this is my last day to live, and God wants me to die, if you can’t save me, you still have grandmother to take care of, and my brother and sister still need you. Just go out and save your self. Just remember tomorrow to look for my body.’ This is the thing that I won’t forget.”

“I was not afraid because God was there,” says Cynthia. “Jesus was beside me.”

“I told my daughter, ‘I will not leave you. We may die together, if it is God’s will, but if God doesn’t want us to die, then surely we will be saved.’ And praise God, I just pulled the brick wall once more, and my daughter said that she was free! I grabbed her and ran away.”

“I said thank you God for helping me, now I’m out from under the wall. Then we ran,” adds Cynthia.

Because of the remoteness of their town in the south of Nias, no medical help came for several days. Then Operation Blessing arrived and Cynthia’s dad was able to bring her to the emergency clinic.

When Cynthia arrived, she was weak and unable to walk. She had no wounds, but her face and head were swollen. Doctors started an IV, and then arranged to fly her to a hospital in a C-130 transport plane. An OB medical staff person traveled with Cynthia and her dad, and more than a dozen other critical patients, to assist on the flight to Medan and the hospital. At the hospital, they learned that Cynthia had a small fracture in her skull and one in her nose, but both are treatable without surgery, which makes this father very grateful.

“This is really a precious gift from you, to help my child to the clinic here,” he says. “If not, I don’t know what would have happened. And praise God now you are helping me to take her to the hospital in Medan. I know Cynthia will be healed there.”

Cynthia wants to add her thanks as well. “I want to say thank you very much. You are helping to cure me.”

Thank you CBN Partners. Because of your faithfulness, we were there in Nias, reaching out to those caught in this latest tragedy. If you are not a partner, please prayerfully consider joining with us. You will be part of a ministry making a difference in people’s lives every day -- sharing with them a message of hope through Jesus, as well as ministering to their tangible needs of food, clothing, and medical care. Please join with us today.