Uzbeks Gulya and Ashbak* were happily married. They earned good money working at a car wash and dreamt of someday starting a family. But then Ashbak began drinking and became a very jealous man.
One day, the unthinkable happened.
Ashbak came to work drunk and asked Gulya for money to buy vodka. She refused and reminded him that they needed to save money for the family.
Agitated, he yelled at Gulya and accused her of cheating on him, saying he was leaving for Moscow.
Gulya, her boss and her co-workers tried to persuade Ashbak to stay. Answering, Ashbak said, “There are your suitors trying to get me to stay. I won’t stay with them—you stay with them.”
Hurt, Gulya wondered what to do. Ashbak walked out and turned back to look at her. Glad that he had stopped, Gulya ran to him.
When she reached him, Ashbak pulled out a knife and stabbed her repeatedly in her stomach. “I could not defend myself,” she said. “It was so fast; I didn’t know what to do next.”
Gulya ran for help, crying, “Ashbak’s killing me!” Her boss quickly ran to her. He tried desperately to find a driver to take her to the hospital. The first two drivers saw Gulya covered in blood and refused. The third driver agreed after her boss threatened to call the police if he didn’t.
Ashbak stood watching, not knowing what to do. In the car, Gulya held her stomach. Is this really the end? she wondered before losing consciousness.
When they arrived at the hospital, Gulya woke up. “I remember Ashbak crying out to the hospital, saying that he had stabbed me and asking for someone to provide assistance,” remembered Gulya. “Crying, he asked that I forgive him.”
Half dead, Gulya could only mumble a response. They wheeled her into the operating room and reported Ashbak to the police.
When she awoke, the doctors told her that if they had arrived 10 minutes later, Gulya would have died. She had been stabbed four times, once in the liver. Ashbak was taken into police custody and would be tried in court.
The horror of the situation took hold of Gulya. Within just a few days, she had lost all hope. But then she received a book and note from OM Russia team members Simeon* and Fay*, who had heard about the incident and visited Gulya. They weren’t able to find her initially and left the gift for her at the hospital.
They had written, “God doesn’t only want to heal you from the outside, but He also wants to heal you from the inside.” This simple message revived Gulya’s hope.
Who were these people to visit me? wondered Gulya. She called the number Simeon and Fay had written on the note.
The following week, they visited Gulya again and this time found her. They talked for a while and developed a friendship.
Shortly after, Gulya learned she needed another operation; without it, the doctors said she wouldn’t survive. But even after the three-hour operation, her tests still came back with poor results.
Over the next week Gulya lost weight. The doctors forbade her to eat and only allowed her to suck water through a cloth.
At 2 one morning, she lay awake in bed and couldn’t feel her hands and feet. “Suddenly I sensed someone lifting me up from my body,” she said. “I did not see who held me, but I felt that it was God. We quickly began to climb upward, so that the stars, sun, moon and lightning remained below.
“We ascended to heaven. Everything was very beautiful. There was a voice speaking to me. I began to plead with Him: ‘Lord, I am not ready to come to You now. I have a young son [from a previous marriage] and old parents; they need me. Do not take me, please. I did not know you well, Lord. Teach me, so that I would live for you.’
“The voice told me, ‘Calm down! I’ll give you a chance to be my daughter—to live. But before you come back, I want to show you paradise and hell.’
“In heaven, everything is beautiful,” continued Gulya. “Everyone was happy and they had no reason to be unhappy. I really wanted to stay.
“Then we were in hell. The horror! The people from the fire were horrific and scorched. The atmosphere was unbearable. Such a strong thirst—so that the whole body feels it. ‘Give us water,’ people cried out, but there was no water to give them.
“To quench their thirst, they placed pebbles in their mouths, but it didn’t satisfy their thirst. God said, ‘There is no water here.’ Then the Lord let me feel this thirst—such that we do not know on earth.
“We started to return below. Again the same sun, moon, stars and lightning passed by instantly. I returned to the body and came to life.”
Suddenly, Gulya felt her hands and feet again and her voice returned. She removed the equipment from her mouth and shouted to the nurses for water. They came running and told her not to remove the devices.
“I’m healthy,” she said. The doctors did not believe what they saw. Every day, Gulya’s tests were clear and her liver healed.
Gulya called Simeon and Fay and asked to come live with their family for a while. They gladly accepted her request and welcomed her into their home.
Although Gulya wanted to hear about Christ, she was wary about becoming a Christian. But one evening she gave her heart to Jesus. That same night, she dreamt about giving out New Testaments to people.
*Names changed.
Charisma News is unable to confirm Gulya’s testimony firsthand. OMNI is the news and information branch of Operation Mobilization. OMNI’s goal is to provide up-to-date news from the mission field, providing an accurate picture of what God is doing to inform and inspire believers to greater involvement in world missions.
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