Bulgaria Testimony

THIS IS A REAL STORY ABOUT GOD’S MERCY AND HEALING POWER!

Many people in Western countries will remember the Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine in 1986.  Television and radio reported it fully, telling about the dangers of radiation, especially in the areas surrounding Chernobyl.  BUT, in those countries behind the Iron Curtain, including Bulgaria, the truth was withheld from the people …

   It was May 1986.  I was five months pregnant with our second child and my husband and I were on a visit to my parents in south-eastern Bulgaria.  We were walking in a country area, enjoying the warmth, the breeze, the sights of cherries, raspberries – the first fruits of spring – and the young salad crops and vegetables being cultivated on the land.  We did not know that the breeze was blowing death and the fruits on the trees and the crops in the ground were being poisoned.

   The day before, there had been a terrible accident at the nuclear power station at Chernobyl.

   The only thing that we knew was what the national television and radio had told us – that the accident was a long way from Bulgaria and there was no danger of radiation.  They told us:  “It is safe for you to go out and to eat fresh vegetables and fruit.  There is no danger to your health.  The Communist Party is looking after you and your family, as a mother looks after her children.”  This was the message that Bulgarians heard from the Government.

   After a few days, my husband and I returned to Vidin, in north-western Bulgaria, where we lived.  We were close to the Yugoslavian border and it was possible for us to receive television and radio news from across the border.  I was fearful when I heard the comments of Western reporters and I realised that we had not been told the truth about the dangers of the radiation fall-out.  We heard that the fall-out levels were really high in the area of Bulgaria we had been visiting, because of the direction of the wind.  Doctors were talking about the health dangers to pregnant women and to their babies.

   My husband and I first met each other when we were students in Sofia (our capital city).  We became Christians there and attended the same underground church.  We later married and eventually settled in Vidin.  There was no church in the town, so we started a small fellowship in our flat.  All we had was a Bible.  We had no other Christian books or teaching material of any kind.  At that time the reading of the Bible was outlawed.  We had to hide it away in our home, in case the police came. 

   I loved the Lord with all my heart, but sometimes, because of the Chernobyl disaster, I was fearful for the health of my baby, who was due in four months.  Every day I had to fight with anxious thoughts about whether the child would be healthy or not.  Finally, I said to myself, “Even if the baby is born unhealthy, God can heal it!” 

   At that time I did not fully understand that I could stand against the devil and believe that Jesus died on the cross, shedding His blood for both our salvation and healing, and that the devil had no legal right to destroy the life and the health of God’s children. I gave room to the devil by thinking that the baby might be born unhealthy.  It did not occur to me that I could trust God to give health to my baby in the womb.

   The baby was born on August 10th.  We named him Daniel.  I was holding him in my hands and I was thankful to God that He had given him to me.  But at the same time I saw how different he was from my first baby, born a year beforehand.  After a few days, I was still in the hospital and the doctors allowed my husband to see our baby.  Danny was so ugly that my husband asked me if I was sure this was our son.  Maybe there had been a mix-up.  When our parents saw the baby, the happiness in their eyes disappeared.  They realised he had severe disability problems.

   The doctors didn’t tell us anything specific, but they said we should wait to see how he developed.  We soon realised his head drooped all the time, his tongue hung out and he couldn’t move like a normal baby.  He was just lying still.

   We left the hospital.  Danny would sleep for 5 or 10 minutes at a time, then he would wake up and cry for hours.  This went on, day and night, for months.  It affected my health.  The strain gave me heart trouble and my nerves were very bad.  When Danny was two months old, the doctors recommended we should give him drops of synthetic vitamin D².  The next month they tripled the dose and the following month they increased the dose to six times the normal amount.  After that they began giving him even higher doses, by injection.  They said that this was necessary, because he might otherwise contract rickets.

   Danny was now six months old.  After consulting among themselves, the doctors told us the truth.  He was born with brain damage.  His muscles hadn’t developed and he would never be able to move them properly.  He would not develop mentally, either.  We went to other doctors, for a second opinion, but they confirmed the diagnosis and also told us that he should not have received such high doses of vitamin D².  This was a mistake and it would mean that the head of Danny would never grow any bigger, because the vitamin had caused the bones of the skull to fuse together much too soon.  Normally, this takes place when a baby is about 12 months old, not in the first six months.  Because of all these disabilities and the mistake of the doctors, no one could tell us how long Danny would survive.  They told us that even if we could find some sponsors to take Danny to see medical experts in the West, no medical treatment anywhere could be of help.

   No words could express the pain we felt in our hearts.  Our son was without anyone in the world who could help him.  We had been told that because of this mistake of the doctors, we could take the matter to court, but we knew this wouldn’t change the fact that our child was terribly disabled.

   We did not know anything about the Lord’s power to heal.  We had no Christian literature, audio tapes or videos to teach us – only the Bible.  We had never heard of anyone being healed with such severe disabilities.  We only knew what our pastors in Sofia had told us and this did not include teaching about healing. The church in Bulgaria had no teaching on this at that time.  We thought that God allowed sickness and disease, in order to bring people closer to Him and to make them humble.

   My husband and I decided not to rush into praying for Danny to be healed, but to see first what God says about healing in the Bible.  The Holy Spirit opened our eyes to see in a new way the meaning of Isaiah 53:5:  “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”  Then we prayed and we believed that God was hearing us and He would answer our prayer for Danny’s healing.  I cannot describe the happiness which came after that prayer.  For a while nothing happened.  Our child looked just the same, but inside, in our spirits, we felt that something was broken in the spirit world and things were different.

   A few days before the prayer, the hospital sent us a physiotherapist, who was to come every day to massage Danny’s muscles.  She came once and then, because of a family problem, she had to go away for a few days.  So, the second time she came was after we had prayed.  When she touched Danny she was surprised and she asked: “What have you done to this child?  A few days ago his muscles felt like dough and now they feel normal.  Look how he is moving!”  It was true.  Danny was different!  Over the next two weeks he was able to sit down without help, his neck supported his head, so that it no longer drooped.  He could lay on his back and then turn onto his front, which had been impossible for him to do before.  We were very happy.

   After a few weeks of happiness, we had times of doubt.  We saw the physical change.  His muscles were healed, but we were not sure that God would continue to heal and that his brain would be normal.  We didn’t know anything about looking to God in faith.  We thought that after the first prayer, Danny would be healed completely, but this had not happened.  We continued to thank God for his miraculous improvement physically and we longed for his healing mentally.  It happened unexpectedly.  As we prayed for Danny each evening, we saw changes in him.  We would give testimony in the church to the improvements we saw.  We noticed that a day or two after we testified, Danny would get worse. This happened about six times.  We were confused and we didn’t know why this happened.  We would pray earnestly again and there would be improvement.  Then, after we testified in the church, he would be worse again. One day, when we were very depressed, we cried out to God for help and asked Him to show us what to do in this situation.  Then, by the Holy Spirit, he gave us new revelation.  He told us that what He had begun to do He would finish.  When we accepted that our son would be healed, we had to continue in faith, knowing that God was going to do a complete work and not just partly heal Daniel.
 
   This revelation gave us confidence in our hearts for the complete healing of our son.  This confidence stayed in our hearts like a rock.  It didn’t matter when we would see the complete healing.  It was enough to know that God was in control.  We did not allow satan to steal the faith we had in our hearts.  About six weeks later, when Danny was 11 months old, I was with him in the same room.  I was praying and I felt God’s presence in the room so real that it was difficult for me to breathe.  Danny was sitting on his bed.  I turned to him and I heard myself saying, “God, I think the time has come.  Please let me see the change with my eyes.”  Then I saw Danny turn to me.  His tongue was inside his mouth and he smiled.  Then I saw his eyes looking around.  Until this moment his eyes had just rolled around in his head.  His eyes were now focusing.  He stood up on his legs.  He reached out his hands to me and I picked him up.  Glory to God!

   This was 16 years ago.  Now Danny is 25 years old (2012).  He has always been in a normal school and he has graduated every year successfully.  His hobby is cars.  He is studying motor mechanics.  He is helping at home.  He is in the worship team in the church and he plays the bass guitar.

   Our church, named Bethesda, has made a professional CD with our own songs.  Danny is recorded on this, playing his instrument.  He is a blessing to us and to our church also.  He is a living testimony to God’s mercy and mighty healing power.

   Sometimes in our church parents come with children that are Danny’s age.  They want us to pray for their children, who have disabilities like Danny had.  They cannot talk and they are unable to walk without help.  We know how their parents feel, but usually they are looking for something amazing to happen straight away, after some special prayer, the laying on of hands, or the magical wave of a hand over their child.  They want to see the healing and then go on their way, with no true heart towards God and His way. Some were like this when Jesus was on the earth, but He said:  “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Vanya Dutsov  (June 2004)   
Valentin and Vanya Dutsov  2 Drava Street  Vidin 3700  Bulgaria    vdutsov@yahoo.com