One night in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, as we drove into a field teeming with hurting people ready to begin that night’s outreach, I looked out the window of my car at an elderly man laying on a makeshift cloth pallet. When I saw him, immediately my heart jumped; and just like Jesus in the bible, I was moved with compassion. Something inside me said he needed just a little encouragement to know that tonight was his night for healing.

I had quite a struggle getting my chauffer and interpreter to pull over. They said, “Mama Leslie, don’t you see this crowd? You can’t pull over you, will be mobbed!” I remember as a last resort opening my door as the vehicle was moving, edging closer to the door until finally they stopped the car.

There on the mat was a man who looked much older than his years. When I spoke to him of the love of God and the power to save him from his sickness, his eyes perked up and he sat up and began to move.

Later that night as I stood on the platform my interpreter ran over to tell me, “Mama Leslie! Mama Leslie, look! There’s the man you spoke to who was about to die! LOOK! He’s the first one to testify and he’s walking! It’s a miracle!”

This man who lay on that simple mat wrapped in a long piece of multi-colored African fabric an hour or two earlier had looked like a mere skeleton with no life. He had been the picture of death, yet, God saw something else.

Remember, Jesus is never too busy to come to you. Two thousand years ago He paid the price for you!

I remember the story of Zhanna, a young Muslim woman who suffered with terrible asthma. Her parents had taken her to every doctor in Kazakhstan and had even made the great expense of traveling across the vast tundra to Moscow to consult with specialists. Nothing helped this young woman. She suffered terribly, barely able to breathe, facing daily the life-threatening effects of severe asthmatic attacks.

Her parents, who were Muslim in their faith, were invited to one of our meetings. Someone had told them about a Festival of Music and Miracles being conducted in their city. Moved by what they heard in the meeting, the entire family decided to invite Jesus into their hearts.

Suddenly, an amazing thing happened. Zhanna began to take deep breaths! Something had lifted off her chest, and the weight that had bound her was gone! Peace had entered her body and she was breathing freely.

They had sought healing from all the experts in the best hospitals of that part of the world with no results. Yet, in just one simple prayer they asked Jesus into their hearts, and in that moment all signs of this debilitating sickness disappeared!

I remember traveling on a train across Russia several years ago. Laying in my bed, tremendous symptoms of sickness began to attack my body. I knew this was not the place to get ill, and I had many hours to travel on this train. My berth felt either too hot or too cold, and I could barely move about in the room I shared with other passengers.

I remember opening my bible to Isaiah 53:1, “Who has believed our report?  And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Suddenly it dawned on me, did I understand what Christ had done for me? Could I believe in the midst of this dark, cold, dreary Siberian landscape that two thousand years ago this Jesus was wounded for me?

As I laid there I considered the tremendous price paid for me, and realized that I had ignorantly overlooked Isaiah’s report. My bible slipped from my hand and I started to fall asleep. At that moment I remember the strength of God infusing my soul and I KNEW that I was healed. The next morning every ache, chill and pain had vanished from my body. Total healing had returned by no power of my own, but by simply believing the report!

Many people do not receive their healing because they do not understand the continuum of time.

I can think of many instances of this in our meetings from around the world, one particular woman in Kazakhstan comes to mind. She was a worker at the Italian embassy and had a vision problem, needing glasses in order to read properly. She had been attending the healing meetings during the week and was hopeful that something would happen, but so far had not noticed any changes.

We would serve tea on the breaks, and this woman came up in the line behind my husband to get her cup of tea. I remember this very specifically, she picked up the tea bag and when she did, she began to shout, “I can see! I can see! I can see!”

She had prayed for the healing for her eyes and though it did not happen instantaneously, later in the week she picked up the teabag and could read the fine print on that teabag.

When did her healing begin? Her healing began on the day that healing was ministered to her—on the day that she believed she received!