God's protection

One thing that I have learned is that I have no idea how much God is always doing on my behalf. God is always at work. 

Yesterday morning I led the devotions with the staff at Imara. I shared a story that I read recently that had really impacted me. Even as I shared it with the others, I struggled to hold back the tears because of the amazement of God's goodness and care. The story is a wonderful illustration of God's sovereignty and providence and faithfulness and so much more. It is out of a book called "On Being a Missionary" by Thomas Hale. 

I thought I would share a brief summary of that story. It is about a man that was a medical missionary in a rural area of Nepal. He would have to travel two days each way by bicycle to get to the town where he could get the needed medicine for his village. Since there were not any villages on the way, he would just sleep outside by a tree. On one trip going to get the medicine, he met a young man along the way.  He began to build a relationship with that man and after leaving was looking forward to seeing him again. After several months, he came upon that man again and talked with him.  The young man shared that he and several of his friends had planned to kill him and rob him on the way back from the trip when they first met. They knew his route and where he stayed. 

So, he and his friends went to the spot where he was sleeping and were hiding in the bushes planning their attack. As they looked at the man, they saw 26 men with weapons standing around guarding him.  They were shocked. Each of them counted individually and confirmed that there was 26, so they left. When the young man told the missionary the story, he could not believe it. He said that there were not any men guarding me. But the young man was emphatic that they all saw them.  

While the missionary was back in the states visiting, he shared the story with his home church. One man stood up and asked about the approximate date and time of that occurrence. After hearing the details, the man said that day he was on his way to work and felt like the Lord was leading him to pray for the missionary. He returned home and called several others to pray as well. He asked all the men that prayed that day to stand up. And, sure enough it was 26 men.  

That missionary had no idea what God was doing. He did not ask for that prayer, he did not pray it himself, but God knew. God was at work. 

When I shared that story yesterday morning, I had no idea how real it would become for me only a short time later. As some as you may know, five men broke into our house with a gun and machete and threatened to kill us and stole a lot of our stuff, some things that are irreplaceable. But, when I looked into the eyes of the man that threatened to kill me, I knew that he was willing to do it. It was not an idle threat meant to scare us. They had a mission and if we got in the way, then they were willing to do what was necessary. Often, people get injured or killed during a break in. God protected us. We are not hurt. I know that God was at work in ways that I will never know. More than ever, I am overwhelmed with the number of people that pray for me and are standing with me in this. Thank you so much. 

I will share more of the details later, but I wanted to let you all know that we are safe and staying in the home of friends and feeling the protection and love of God.