aa Tim sat in the pastor’s office, nervousness and excitement written across her face. She and five others were to be baptized at the end of a small reaping meeting our church was conducting with the help of Pastor Rob Mackay. Paa Tim had been waiting for this day for more than 30 years, proof that some seeds mature slowly, and you never know when and where your ministry will finally bear fruit.

Paa Tim studied in our Adventist Ekemai International School in Bangkok. She went there determined to do two things: learn English well and not become brainwashed into becoming a Christian. The English learning was a great success for which she rejoiced. But her resistance against Christianity brought her more feelings of regret than of pleasure. As she returned home to Surin to marry a young Chinese Buddhist man, she felt sad to leave her friends and the Christian environment she had come to appreciate. She had learned that God is good to all, answers prayers and brings strength and comfort, and she never forgot these truths.

Years passed. She didn’t became a Christian, partly because of her husband’s opposition and partly because there were no Adventist churches in her province. Yet, in spite of her husband’s strong ties to Chinese Buddhism, she taught their children about God. She prayed for them and taught them to pray, too. As the children grew up, their mother’s influence and training led them all to become Christians, joining various Sunday churches nearby.

Then, last year, Paa Tim’s elderly father grew sick. She took him to the Surin government hospital and attended to him for many weeks. When the doctor recommended that she buy a radio to help entertain her father, she did and soon found our New Life Radio, FM 88.75. She was delighted to learn that it was a Seventh-day Adventist station. She called in and spoke with our DJ. Then we visited her and her father and her husband.

Months passed as she continued to listen to our broadcast. When we held our reaping meetings, she decided that now was her chance. With her children’s encouragement, she expressed her long-held desire to be baptized as an Adventist Christian. But she was nervous. What would her husband say? They had a family business, and he depended on her to run it. Would he allow her to keep every Sabbath? This was Paa Tim’s concern as she sat and talked with us and Pastor Rob. “Trust in God, and move forward,” we told her. “There will be opposition, but God will strengthen and comfort you at every step.” She did, and it was a happy day when she rose from the waters of baptism.

If only Paa Tim’s former teachers could see her now! She has been faithfully attending church, but her husband’s opposition against her faith has indeed been aroused. Satan is working on him. In drunken anger, he often curses at her and breaks things he knows are dear to her. Paa Tim has cried much but prayed even more, and God has helped her to be strong and faithful. Please, dear reader, pray for Paa Tim that she will be an overcomer, and that her husband will be freed from slavery to pride and alcohol and come to love God, too.