RUSSIAN FEDERATION — At the age of 49, Galina Mihailovna had an experience that literally changed her life. Seriously ill and, everybody thought, about to die, she had a visitor who brought her God’s Word. Physical healing followed and she now devotes her life to guiding others towards placing their life in God’s hands.

“I was so ill that I could barely move,” she recalls. “People told me later that I looked as though I was 89 years old, not 49! I couldn’t eat or drink, so I was being fed intravenously and the doctors thought it was only a matter of time before I died.

“One day a young woman from the Orthodox church came to visit me. She said that, as I was going to die soon, I should begin to pray. She gave me a small New Testament and challenged me to read it. I was so exhausted that it was difficult just to breathe, but something made me open that Bible. The one verse that jumped out at me was: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28, NIV).

At that very moment, this woman who had once been, in her own words, “an active atheist” placed her life in God’s hands. Within days, her health began to improve until, 10 days later, she could walk again and eat normal food.

“I’d been seriously ill for years,” she says, “but now I burned all my hospital notes and thanked God for the miracle he had worked in my life.

“I wanted very much to live as a Christian from then on, but I realised that I needed the help of other Christians because there was a lot I didn’t understand. So I joined a local Pentecostal congregation, although at first my children were very sceptical. In fact, they thought I was mad! After a while they realised that something very important really had happened in my life and they listened to me when I told them about Jesus. Now three of my children are Christians.”

Mrs Mihailovna later studied at Bible school and for the past five years has been leading a home church that meets regularly in her apartment in a village 100 kms (65 miles) south of Novosibirsk. Here, around 15 people get together to read the Bible and listen to her preaching to them.

“I feel that I have been called to share the Word of God with my people,” she explains. “So I contacted the Bible Society to see if there was anything I could do, such as selling or handing out Bibles or Portions. I have to travel for between two and three hours to reach the Society’s offices in Novosibirsk to collect these items.”

With such a long journey to make, Mrs Mihailovna is very pleased that, this time, the Bible Society has brought some Bibles and Bible-based materials to her. What she would really like to do is open a Christian bookshop, but her village is so small that there would probably not be enough business to keep it going. Staff at the Bible Society have suggested that she make enquiries about premises in a larger town only 20 minutes away by bus. She is also keen to act as a ‘Bible messenger’ locally by contacting libraries to see if they would like to receive a package of Bible Society materials (see also).

Above all, wherever she goes she wants to encourage Christians to work together to tell others about the love of Jesus and about the Bible.