No More HIV

By Sally, Nairobi, Kenya

I tested positive for HIV in 1999, which at the time meant the end of life to me. Though I knew the Lord, it was too much for me to bear.

Before I discovered the devastating news that I was HIV positive, I was working as a secretary at an insurance company, where I met volunteers from the Family International. I became a fond reader of the Activated magazine. After becoming very ill due to my condition, to the point of fighting for my life, I lost my job, my friends, and all that I had lived for.

I stopped reading the Word and slipped into deep depression which led me to attempt suicide by jumping off a ferry into the Indian Ocean. Being a non-swimmer, to me this was a sure way to end it all. So intent had I been to end my life that I dove off the back of the boat where the propeller is, but by a miracle I was not hit by the propeller. I tried to swallow water, but could not so much as drink a glass full. I expected to go under, but instead I floated, feeling light and peaceful.

While I was out there in the ocean, trying to sink, the Lord intervened and spoke to me in a very real and personal way. He showed me that I had a future to fight for, that there were many people who needed my help, and that He was going to heal me. Some of the verses I received were, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for Me?” “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil,” and “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Jeremiah 32:27; 29:11; Exodus 15:26b).

The Lord intervened and I was rescued from the ocean. And thanks to the Word and the Family members’ prayers, encouragement, and friendship I pulled out of the state of depression I was in and started to fight for my healing. I was quickly healed from TB and other AIDS-induced infections. The Lord opened a door for me to receive the Anti Retro Viral treatment (ARV), which gave me a boost physically and started the healing process. True to His Word, God has healed me and today I’m completely cured of HIV/AIDS. All of last year I underwent a string of tests, including repeated viral load tests, which all proved negative. After much prayer and in counsel with the doctor who had been treating me, I stopped taking the ARV drugs, since they had had many bad side effects for me, and I have been feeling healthier than ever.

This experience has been a tremendous boost to my faith and is a testimony to many, even though a lot of people who I talk to don’t believe that I ever was HIV positive. My cure has no medical explanation, since ARVs only retard but don’t heal the disease, and one can only admit that it was a miracle through God’s healing power. “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). I can testify that God is the only One Who gives real meaning to my life and that He is the greatest doctor in the universe!

For several years now I’ve been working as a community worker and AIDS counselor with an international medical NGO in Nairobi, which offers a perfect opportunity to minister to AIDS patients–to pray for, encourage, and witness to them, as the Lord promised He would use me to do. The Activated magazine and other Family publications provide excellent material to teach people with and use to help them through the hardships and struggles they face in the fight for their lives. Finding faith through God’s Word builds these people’s determination and strength to keep up the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Every morning as I wake up, I ask God to use, guide, and direct me as I go out to minister to AIDS patients at the Mbagathi District Hospital in Nairobi. I pray with more than 30 patients daily. Some are extremely ill. I invite them to receive Christ in their hearts and I see the Lord work in many people’s lives each day! I share a lot about life after death with the patients, which gives them a glimpse of Heaven and the glorious future ahead, and this eases their suffering and despair.

I am in the hospital for two hours and then I move on to the Kibera slum (the largest slum in East Africa), which is not very far from the hospital. There too I find AIDS patients, most of whom are bed-ridden. I pray with them and read them encouraging words from the Activated magazines and Get Activated booklets. Initially I used to make copies of the articles, but I thank God that I now get 50 sponsored copies of the magazine every month from the Family Home in Nairobi, which prove to be such an encouragement to those in need.

I have gone through the 12 Foundations Stones classes, and now I am going through the Endtime classes at the time of writing this article. These are a big help in my witnessing, and give me impetus to press in.

I face difficulties on a daily basis in my ministry. Some people look at me and think that I am too well to ever have been HIV positive and call me a liar. I daily meet patients who are desperately in need of food, clothing, and money, and though I give them the Word and prayer, I often have nothing materially to give them–this takes faith. Sometimes I sympathize too much, when I only need to empathize. My prayer to God is like that of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:10, “Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!”

I have learned that positive spiritual attitudes can enhance health. Praising God for His goodness, even when things go wrong, is the ultimate form of positive thinking. I have faith that God will work things out and continue to take care of me. “A broken spirit dries the bones, but a merry heart does good, like medicine” (Proverbs 17:22).

“HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest social and economic challenges in Kenya today. It has had and continues to have a devastating impact on all sectors of society. Although in recent years the national prevalence has reduced slightly, Kenyans currently living with HIV/AIDS are numbering 1.4 million (of a total population of 31 million), 10% of whom are children. There are also an estimated 1.5 million AIDS orphans in Kenya currently, and at least 1.5 million people have died of AIDS in the last 20 years. In 1999 the government of Kenya declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster.”–Quotation from the Director of Medical Services, Kenya, National Training Curriculum on HIV/AIDS care 2005.