|
Ammakannu was
desperate… She had just heard about a church called Bethel Prayer House ICII
that was helping people with leprosy and she was willing to do anything she
could to get there. Someone had told her that they had seen a leper in the
town carrying around a bag that said “Leprosy Compassion Pack”. Ammakannu
needed one of those compassion packs very desperately. Ammakannu had had
leprosy for many long and degrading years. Her life seemed beyond ever
repairing. In her past, she had once been considered a high caste person, but
since she got this terrible disease of leprosy, everyone had rejected her,
both her family in whom she loved and all of society. |
|
Now she was
sadly considered an untouchable person, the lowest of all the caste system.
No one was willing to help her. No one wanted to even be near her because she
had many deformities of her body that others considered hideous, and the
filthy old rags she wore were beyond acceptable. But this deplorable
situation was not of Ammakannu’s choosing. She had certainly not desired a
life of poverty. Those who believed in
Hinduism believed that she was being cursed by the Hindu gods because she had
done evil things in a past life. Now she had been reincarnated as an
untouchable, a leper. Because of this, Ammakannu had no hope that things
would ever get better, but worst of all she dreaded what might happen to her
when she died. She only survived by begging. It had been three whole days
since Ammakannu had eaten. She was also very worried because her landlord was
asking her to leave the shack she had been renting from him. She dreaded
living out on the streets. |
|
Ammakannu
didn’t know how much longer she could stand life. She often thought about
committing suicide. The chill of night, the hunger, the poverty, the painful
open sores on her hands and feet was more than she could bear in her old age.
When Ammakannu did eat, many times she felt sick and she could not keep the
cheap, spoiled food in her weak stomach. On top of all that, she felt so
awfully lonely, having been rejected over and over again. She desperately
yearned for someone to care. But this
morning Ammakannu did leave her house with something new. It was a small
ounce of hope that she had not felt for a long time. She felt if only she
could get to this Bethel Prayer House church she had just heard about, maybe
someone there would finally have mercy on her. It was Sunday
morning, and in hopes of finding the church, Ammakannu had been walking a
long time and was feeling very weak and dizzy. Her thin, feeble body could go
no further and she collapsed to the ground. One of the people on the busy
street walking by had mercy on her and stopped and bought her some hot tea in
hopes that she would get up again. Ammakannu drank the tea and slightly began
to recover. She struggled up and continued to walk again. Not only did
Ammakannu not know how to get to the church, but her old eyeglasses were so
scratched that it was hard to see much through them. In spite of all these complications she
continued on. Ammakannu dimly
remembered that once in her past, a man had told her “Jesus loved her”.
Ammakannu didn’t know anything about Jesus, but she thought to herself that
if this Jesus really does love me then I will pray to Him, and ask Him to
show me where this church is. Ammakannu began praying for guidance. |