A Story About Sabina's Visit With Her Son Mihai

By the age of 11, suffering had produced a wavering in Mihai's faith. But after two years of Sabina's imprisonment, he was allowed to see her.

The visit was 15 minutes, standing in the same room, with guards listening to every word. Sabina was dirty, thin, with calloused hands, wearing the shabby uniform of a prisoner. Mihai barely recognized her.

Sabina called across the space that separated them, "Mihai, believe in Jesus with all your heart!" Later she said, "[I gave] him the best counsel I could; knowing from my experience in prison among so many people, old and young, that only Christ can give the hope that lights the darkest place."

The guards, in a savage rage, pulled her away from Mihai and took her out. Mihai wept at seeing his mother dragged away. This was the minute of his conversion. He knew that if Christ can be loved under such circumstances, He surely is the true Savior. He said afterward, "If Christianity had no other arguments in its favor than the fact that my mother believes in it, this is enough for me." That was the day he fully accepted Christ.

[From Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand, and The Pastor's Wife by Sabina Wurmbrand.]

The "underground church" met in private homes, in the woods—wherever we could. There, in secret, it often prepared its "open" work. Under the Communists, we devised a plan of having street preaching, which in time became very risky. But by this means, we reached many souls we could not reach otherwise.

My wife was very active in this. Some Christians would quietly gather on a street corner and start to sing. People crowded around them to hear the beautiful singing, and my wife would deliver her message. We left the spot before the secret police arrived.

[From the book Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand.]

A Story From a Musician

We bought a piano when I was six. The piano was placed against the wall we shared with the Wurmbrands. Sabina could hear me learning and practicing. [Rather than be bothered by the noise], she always urged me, "Play for Jesus! Use your talents for Him!"

After we moved away, whenever we got the opportunity to visit with Sabina, she would always ask, "Are you playing in church? Are you singing for the Lord?"

[Sabina had memorized many passages from the Bible.] Once she quoted a Psalm for me that told about all the instruments that were used to praise the Lord.