She walked in with acid burns on her face, holding her severed hand. The village doctor took one look at her and said, “We can’t help you because we think you’re going to die. It’s bad karma if you die in the village because your ghost will haunt the hospital.”
These words aren’t from a novel; they were spoken by a lovely young woman who sat across from me, recounting her life story. Her name is Nora.
Nora was born in Cambodia and raised a Buddhist. We came to know her through the founder of Girls’ House of Refuge in Phnom Phen. This wonderful ministry takes in girls from the streets and provides them with care, safety, advocacy, education and most important, the transformational love of Jesus Christ. Nora had been brought there by her cousin who was a resident.
Nora’s life of poverty had led her into a violent relationship with a businessman, a leading member of her village whom the authorities couldn’t touch. He stalked her repeatedly, kidnapping and abusing her when he found her. Finally, one day he lay in wait. When she appeared, he threw battery acid in her face, stabbed her head with a butcher knife, hacked off her hand and left her for dead.
Nora vividly remembered lying there, whispering, “God, please help your child. Please.” Here she was, alone with a God she didn’t even know but to whom her spirit cried out. At that moment, she said, “There was a light, and something lifted me up” and she instantly knew Jesus was beside her. Like Hagar, the unloved concubine of Abram, Nora “called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing. …Truly here I have seen him who looks after me’” (Genesis 16:13, ESV).
In agony, Nora miraculously made her way to the village where the superstitious doctor turned her away. She was near death, but God had other plans. By his grace, she finally managed to find help and was taken to the hospital in Phnom Penh.
Today Nora lives at the Girls’ House of Refuge and shares her story of hope with other young women. Her hand sadly could not be saved, but her face has miraculously recovered from the acid burns. She is radiant, a daughter of the King, precious in his sight.