“I was hurt, sad, confused, hopeless, tired, and felt everyone hated me.”

When you learn 15-year-old Mahesh’s* story, you’ll agree that he had every right to feel this way. “My parents abandoned me in a children’s home,” the young man explains. “I failed in tests. I had no friends. I felt that I was nobody and that there was no value in me.”

Mahesh felt traumatized by life and powerless to do anything about it. However, that all changed when someone placed a Bible in his hands.

“I was blessed to participate in a trauma healing camp, and I received the Bible,” he shares. “I never knew about the Bible.”

When this unreached teen began to read Scripture and hear the stories of healing hope in the Bible, his whole outlook changed.

“For the first time, I heard in the Bible that Jesus can heal my heart wounds and I can even forgive my parents who abandoned me,” Mahesh says. “I was relieved when I heard similar stories in the Bible. I felt that I am safe and that God cares for me. I was alone, but now I am happy, hopeful, and helpful to others.”

Mahesh continues, “Now I am a regular reader of the Bible. I pick and choose verses which are sometimes answers, sometimes things for me to do. That shows me who God is to me and how much God cares for me. I am not alone anymore. I see the world differently. God heals and loves everyone the same. I see a big difference in me.”

In places with poverty, violence, and other trauma, sharing Scripture can offer healing. Those in crisis, like Mahesh, have often never heard of Jesus Christ. But when generous partners place a Bible in their hands and hearts, they put them on the path to healing and hope.

In the Bible, hurting people learn that Christ also suffered and that there is healing power in God’s promises. We thank our friends for following the Great Commission by reaching out to those who are in pain with the hands of Jesus Christ.

*Name changed for privacy