We have been praying for Rae for a long time, longing to see her accept God’s love for her. Well, she did! It was in a way that we could not have foreseen, and her son, Beem, was a key part of her journey to Jesus.
It was only last year that our team first met Beem. He was in the hospital, gravely ill with full-blown AIDS. His mother Rae had been working as a prostitute in Pattaya. Karen Huebert-Sanchez proposed that they both come to the Abundant Life Home (ALH), where Beem could be nursed back to health. .
Over time, Beem recovered, and he and his mother began integrating into the ALH community and attending church. Rae was very curious about Jesus and often expressed her admiration for how the Thai Christians loved one another. Yet she was reluctant to give her life completely to Jesus.
Then, earlier this year, Rae travelled to Pattaya to visit her sister and her boyfriend. She came back in time for her son’s sixth birthday, first quarantining with us because of the threat of COVID-19 and her son’s fragile immune system. On February 7, they celebrated his birthday together. Then a crisis hit.
Beem became very sick. He was taken to the hospital, and quicky rushed into intensive care. His platelet count had dropped dangerously low, and we all feared the worst. Our team put out an urgent call for prayer, and we tried to comfort Rae, but all she could think of was, “Am I going to lose my son? Will he make it through the night, or even the next hour?” We did not know whether or not Beem would survive, and we wondered if Rae’s heart could endure such a blow.
We continued to encourage her to surrender to Jesus. Rae told us that she would wait and see whether her son would get better. That brought us to our knees. It was a month-long battle, but Beem finally recovered. Seeing this miracle, Rae gave her life to Jesus!
Today, Beem runs, laughs, has a twinkle in his eye and makes our hearts sing. His mother, too, has changed. Since she accepted Jesus, Rae has experienced God’s joy and freedom for the very first time! Thank you, Jesus! And thank you for praying!
