When *Sergey was 12 years old, he became so ill that his body was paralyzed. A missionary doctor told his family that even in the West, there is no cure for the problem afflicting his brain.
“I could talk, I could see and watch everything, but I couldn’t move,” he said. “They thought maybe that illness couldn’t be healed. Our doctors didn’t know what to do.”
It wasn’t the first time that modern medicine had failed him. When he was 6, he suffered from asthma. Doctors in his city treated him, but the medicines they tried did not work. Once he had such a bad asthma attack that he stopped breathing for more than 15 minutes before God answered the prayers of his mother and relatives to save his life, and he took his next breath.
His grandmother and mother had raised him in the church, even though his father and their extended family came from the dominant religion of their culture in Central Asia. So, Sergey knew the Lord from an early age. As the days passed in the hospital, he prayed. Yet he did so not knowing if he would ever be free from a bed.
After about a month, God again answered the prayers of believers and Sergey was miraculously healed.
His faith continued to grow as he grew. While still in the 5th grade, Sergey was surrounded by kids from the dominant faith. They believed that to follow Jesus was to betray the culture and traditions of their families and country. Even to hold a Bible was considered a great sin.
Some of Sergey’s friends were enthusiastic about literature and poetry and they dreamed of being writers. So he would send them verses from the Bible, which they liked very much. When they asked him where these beautiful words came from, he told them it was the Bible.
At first, his friends were angry, feeling he had tricked them. They began studying the Bible so they could argue with him and prove his faith in Jesus was based on a lie. Eventually they seemed to know the Bible far better than their own scriptures, he says.
Despite his childhood illnesses, Sergey became a strong, athletic young man, and began alpine climbing in his mountainous country. One day, as he and some friends were scaling a nearly vertical mountain face, the wind suddenly pulled at his body and, combined with the weight of his backpack, began to peel him away from the rock. He was helpless as he felt his body falling back from the mountain.
Then he felt strong hands push him toward the mountain face until he could get a new grip on the rocks. He turned to thank his friend for saving his life, but when he looked over his shoulder, no one was there. He looked up and saw that his friend was ahead of him on the mountain.
“At that moment I felt that was really a miracle. And I felt that moment that God wanted to protect me and He has some plan for my life.”
Now a 20-year-old university student, Sergey continues to share his faith with his new classmates. Some of them saw him reading the Bible on his phone.
“And now all of them, they are interested in my faith, and they are asking about that and tomorrow one of them will come [to our meeting].” Others have also visited to see what his faith is about.
One of his friends, an atheist, asked if they could go to the mountains together. When they arrived, Sergey asked why they had come. His friend said he wanted to pray.
“And after that, at least 10 times we went to the mountains and prayed there. He’s not going to church now and I couldn’t say that he’s a believer now. But he wants to pray, he wants to know more about God.”
Corruption is widespread throughout all levels of society in his country, including in higher education. Sergey said that many professors tell their students that they will fail if the students don’t pay them bribes. Sergey has refused, and yet he continues to receive the highest marks in his classes.
Sergey began leading a house group at the age of 17, and the believers began calling him pastor. He has become the leader of his youth group and regularly preaches.
Many spiritual leaders throughout his life have told him that in his future, “I will not have land under my feet because I will go to other lands and preach.” He doesn’t know what this means, but what he does know is “the next step will not be what I expect.”
*Name changed and location omitted for security reasons.
