Maari*, a tea plantation worker with her husband Palani*, felt distinct unease in her spirit and couldn’t sleep as the rains pelted down and midnight approached. When she told her husband, he admitted to feeling the same.

Fairly new members of a local Bibles for Mideast underground church in Kerala, India, the couple were learning to listen to the promptings of God. So in spite of having worked hard the day before and knowing they would be expected to be back at it the next day, the young parents roused their three children, all under ten, and the family joined together in prayer.

“Get out now and run from the house!” they suddenly heard an authoritative Voice command them. Grabbing nothing but their bibles, they left the home and ran through the rain and darkness. Within seconds, heavy stones, mud and gushing water crashed down and the settlement vanished under the mess.

The family finally found their way through the torrential rains to another believer’s house, where they now stay. The horrific landslide completely obliterated the homes and properties of all of the plantation workers while they slept. Eleven injured people were taken to local hospitals. Everyone else died; many are still missing.

Pastor Paul managed to make his way to where they were staying three days after the disaster.

“I asked our church to give them needed arrangements and prayed for them,” he says. “Our congregation is a small one with Hindu converts and laborers of the tea estate. All are very, very poor.”

They were already being harassed by other workers and local people, he says, so we must be careful to protect them. The ministry is doing what it can to help and provide for their necessities.

Each monsoon season brings fears of flooding, mudslides and other dangerous conditions that can devastate the lives of millions of people across South Asia. With these kinds of reports, many people forget that the monsoon also brings a positive, life-sustaining bounty. For millions of people around the world, the monsoon is critical to survival, playing a vital role in everything from food production to the economy.

Some however, like this one, prove devastating and we must pray for our brothers and sisters suffering so much this season.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and containment and prevention measures add an additional complication to the mix, as COVID-19 cases are accelerating in some of the affected areas,” says Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.

No doubt about it, these are trying times—yet how much more trying if we didn’t have the One who holds the world, and each one of us, more closely than a breath.  The enduring unfathomable mystery is that even after our last breath, we will find ourselves closer still, breathing more freely than we ever have of the rarefied air of heaven.

Please keep these believers, and the whole region and those yet to discover the Truth and salvation of Jesus, in your prayers.

If you feel led to support our work here and in many other restricted areas across south Asia and Africa, please click here.
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* Names changed for security reasons