Broken hands, unbroken spirit

When you meet Shu-Ming you cannot help but notice her hands. They are badly deformed, but they were not always that way. In her own words, here is Shu-Ming’s story:

“During the 1960s, the police were brutal. One day they came to my door. Shoving me aside, they ransacked my home. They tore apart books, photos, many precious keepsakes. They were looking for one thing—Bibles. Underneath my stove, they found one. They could have killed me right then, but instead they just laughed. ‘Give up that silly book,’ they said."

“When I refused, they took me outside to a large open area of the city. In front of a crowd, they tore off my dress, leaving me naked. I clutched the Bible to my breast and bowed my head. The soldiers thought I was ashamed, but I was really praying."

"It was the most excruciating pain I have ever felt."

“For three hours the soldiers laughed and spit on me. They stomped on my back, leaving me face-down in the dirt. As I groaned with pain, one of them began to beat my hands with a lead pipe. It was the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. They hit me again and again until my hands had no feeling. The Bible fell from my hands into the dirt. That was the last time I held a Bible.”

Thirty-five years later Shu-Ming’s hands are still deformed, but she is finally able to hold a Bible again. On a busy street in the middle of Shanghai, a Christian man puts several Bibles into her arms, provided by the gifts and prayers of our partners in the States.

Unable to speak her gratitude, tears stream down Shu-Ming’s face. She smiles and bows and disappears into the swarming sea of people, clutching God’s Word as tightly as she did those 35 years ago.