Not even her illness could break our bond

By Frank Kabushenga

I met Pastor Steven Balisanyuka of Muhooro Christian Fellowship in Kabarole district. He is thankful to God that he is still married to Stella Balisanyuka and blessed with four children. 

In 1996, his wife suddenly suffered a mental disorder that lasted 18 months. It was a shock to the family that their loving mother was suffering from mental illness.

Pastor Steven says there was a time when he was preaching in church, only to be called to go and rescue his wife from the bushes. 

He was so devoted to God that he made sure the preaching was finished, then rushed to find his wife. Pastor Steven found her in torn clothes, dirty and unrecognisable. 

Home becomes a mess
At home, all the house chores were left to Pastor Steven.

There was even a time when Stella would not take a shower for two weeks. Pastor Steven had to bathe her forcefully. And even then, they still shared a bed.

The pastor was disheartened by the wife’s situation to the extent that at times he was afraid to go to town. His boldness was greatly attacked and their family name turned into a laughing stock. The climax of this trying time was when Stella advised him to find another woman to marry because she thought she was going to die — an idea that Pastor Steven vehemently rejected.

He remained steadfast in prayer with the support of church members and friends, who had faith that the wife would get healed. 

Stella starts to heal
God being faithful, Pastor Steven started seeing signs of healing. It began with a dream that he and his wife were scheduled for a ministry trip to Australia. “A few weeks after the dream, Stella was healed and we travelled to New Zealand for mission,” recalls Pastor Steven. Pastor Steven and Stella are now happily married. They started another ministry that addresses family matters, which is bringing hope to so many families in Muhooro and beyond.

By God’s grace, Pastor Steven was able to keep his marriage.

Stella’s story
It all started with overwhelming fear. Stella thought God had rejected her and no longer loved her. She also felt condemned in her heart, that if she died she would go to hell.

Her husband called people to pray and fast, but in vain. She would feel fire rising from the feet to her head. This triggered off hatred for herself, thinking that God no longer loved her, since no one that she knew had ever suffered to this extent. 

She started feeling a move to heaven and to the earth, then by a trance she would feel she had gone into the underworld where she would suffer seeing insects eating her up. 

Stella then would call the name of Jesus, at which the situation would calm down. While in this state people would think she is dead.

Stella says: “This broke my family, children suffered jiggers and boils and people hated me in church. I used to run to the bushes and only my husband would come to get me and take me back home. He would encourage me with hope of healing. I would not agree, so I hated God for allowing me suffer to this extent, knowing I had not done anything wrong.”

In all this she would be understanding but with an unstable mind no longer understanding the things of God. 

It became hard to pray and even when she did she would not feel any sense of breakthrough or feel forgiven after confessing. 

As they continued praying she heard the voice of God saying: “I have forgiven you and healed you. After this it took a whole year till before Stella regained her senses. 

“I spent one and a half years without sleeping, both during night and day. I felt burns in the heart. I felt like bursting. I swallowed an overdose of drugs so that I could die, but all in vain,” Stella says.

There happened to be a conference in Fort Portal at Pastor Dickson’s Church called Kabarole Christian Fellowship. 

Stella attended and while there, an American pastor received a revelation. 

He walked straight to her from the altar, saying he had seen the mighty power of God from heaven falling on Stella.

He prayed for her and within one minute Stella’s mind settled. She started understanding.