Mara lived a simple life in a small village in Southeast Asia. She loved her family more than anything else, but in her traditional culture, people who deviated from the norm often faced ridicule and exclusion.

That was a big problem for Mara, because her daughter was Deaf. Other villagers in the community used to make fun of her behind her back, teasing, “Deaf girl, Deaf girl, who will ever marry you?” To make matters worse, Mara’s family was in the midst of a big change that made them stand out even more.

They had recently become Christians.

Most of the people in her village followed a different religion, and there were whispers about Mara and her family. Did someone pay her to convert? Did she get taken advantage of by some foreign organization? Had she just lost her mind entirely? In reality, she had met another man from the next village over who had told her about Jesus, the Son of God who saved us from our sins and invites people of all cultures to be one of His disciples.

He introduced her to something he called a “discovery Bible study,” which was all about reading the Bible and deciding for herself what it meant for her. The week her and her husband decided to believe was the week they had read a story about Jesus providing for the disciples by telling them to cast their nets on a different side of the boat.

“How can you obey this story, Mara?” The man had asked her.

She was caught off guard by that question. She was used to reading other holy books and just being told what to think. She was never asked for her opinion on how to put it into practice.

“Well,” she said. “Work has not been good for my husband and at the current rate, we do not have enough money to buy groceries. So, I suppose I should pray and ask God to provide.”

“Okay,” said the man from the other village. “I will ask you about it next week to make sure you did it!”

Because of this, Mara and her husband actually made time and prayed to Jesus, asking Him to provide. To their surprise, her husband was inundated with opportunities at work that week. He ended up making enough money for the next month’s worth of groceries! Mara and her husband agreed that This Jesus they were learning about was real. They decided to give their lives to follow Him.

One day, Mara’s husband reminded her of how Jesus had answered their prayers for provision.

“We should pray for our daughter as well!”

Mara agreed, so her and her husband decided to pray for their daughter. They read in the Bible how some people practiced fasting as a form of prayer. So, they decided to fast, and one night that week, they set aside time to pray. Even though they only planned to pray for a little while, they ended up staying up interceding for their daughter until 3am one morning.

The following day, nothing had changed. Their daughter was still Deaf, and still faced teasing from the other girls in the village. But, Mara and her husband had a sense of peace that God was moving and everything would be okay.

The following week, their daughter burst through the door in tears. But this time, it was joyful tears.

“Mama, Papa!” She signed. “You will never believe it, but I received a marriage proposal today!”

There was a well-respected family in another village who had recently had an experience similar to Mara and her family. They had become Christians and this had become a catalyst for their son to get to know Mara’s daughter. As he got to know her, he told his parents about her and they decided to offer marriage. Mara went to bed that night amazed at all that God had done, simply because she took Him at His word, and put it into practice in her life, not just as an idea.

But it was time to get to sleep.

She had a busy day of wedding planning the next day!