Tag: miracle

The Difference of a Box of Books, by David and Cherie Bulger, OCI, Colorado Springs

But God finds ways to overcome obstacles

John 20:30, 21:25 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. … If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

Our mission organization is called One Challenge International, often OC for short. Our mission colleagues David and Cherie just sent the following story in their monthly newsletter. I’m posting it with their permission. Jesus’s disciples are still witnessing miracles!

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In our OC office in Johannesburg, a library and bookshop are maintained for leaders to borrow and purchase materials for their growth and development. Recently, we learned of a story related to those books, one we believe you’d appreciate – and thank God for as well. Our OC office in South Africa received the following email:
“Dear Leadership at OC-Africa, “My Muslim name is “Mohammed” [name changed], I was born and raised in a Muslim family in northern Mozambique. I was raised in a religion that hates Jews, Christians, and all white people. I was trained by the Isis in Somalia to fight for Allah in Jihad. I have been studying Islam since I was a little boy. In Islam the doctrine of slavery and terrorism is regarded as the most rewarding service for Allah. Killing Jews, Christians and all white people in the name of Allah is the only assurance a Muslim can have to enter Paradise.

“For 20 years I was in Somalia & Sudan for training in Jihad. I was trained to use all kinds of guns, grenades, swords, knives, etc.   “…God rescued me before I committed any acts of terrorism and murder. In the year 2005 after my training in Sudan & Somalia by Elshabab we visited the nation of Kenya…we were living in the coastal town called Mombasa where there is a growing population of Muslims. We met some missionaries at the beach in Mombasa and I was given a box full of Christian books. [The] box and these books had a red sticker of OC AFRICA.

“These books have transformed my life and God uses the books to give me purpose and direction for my life.   I have now officially changed my name to “Joshua” [name changed again].

“I have lived as a refugee in many African countries because I was running away from radical Islamic terrorists who were hunting my life so that they could kill me. I came to South Africa 13 years ago as a refugee, but life was difficult…I lived from one shelter to another. Sometimes I slept in the streets when I did not have any money to pay for the shelter. I started buying second-hand books and I began to feed my spirit with the word of God…I have learned to trust in God. Your books have taught me Experiencing GOD.

“…God gave me a vision to reach 532 million Muslims in Africa and to equip the Church globally to reach Muslims. …By the grace of God, we have already planted churches in the rural areas in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.”
“Only God knows how that box of books wound up, from Johannesburg, in the hands of “Joshua” in Kenya. All we know is that the Lord has used them to change this man’s life and to birth a ministry. Join us in thanking God for “Joshua,” for books, and for OC Africa’s library and shop!“ 

(Debbie) What acts of Jesus have YOU witnessed, in your life or someone else’s? I invite you to write it down in one page and send it to me (debrakornfield@gmail.com) to share the encouragement! Your story deserves to find its place in the record of God’s wonders.


Flashback

But God will restore, cleanse, guide, and shelter

Isaiah 4:5-6 Then the Lord will provide a canopy of cloud during the day and smoke and flaming fire at night, covering the glorious land. It will be a shelter from daytime heat and a hiding place from storms and rain.

Psalm 31: 19-20, 32:7 How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world. You hide them in the shelter of your presence, safe from those who conspire against them. You shelter them in your presence, far from accusing tongues … You are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.

Whenever I see or hear the words “hiding place,” I flash back to a Saturday night Karis “should” have died. She was sixteen; I was with her at the hospital in São Paulo. Her eleven-year-old sister Valerie, home alone working on a project for school, sang “You are my hiding place … I will trust in you” over and over and over, afraid for Karis’s life.

Teen Karis with her sisters at Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, sharing two pairs of rollerblades between the three of them

Meanwhile, the teens of our church were engaged with their regular weekly meeting. Suddenly one of them said, “We need to pray for Karis.” They didn’t even know she was in the hospital, but the entire group knelt and prayed for her until around midnight they sensed release from God. They only learned the next morning that at the time they felt compelled to pray, Karis’s fever had spiked beyond what the thermometer could measure, and she had managed to say “Goodbye, Mommy,” before passing out. Her doctor was struggling to reach the hospital through São Paulo traffic. Her nurse, too terrified to act, left it up to me to pack Karis in ice and, with the help of another nurse and an orderly holding her down—Karis was shaking uncontrollably—give her the injection the doctor had ordered before he jumped in his car. He repeated the injection, along with other emergency measures, the moment he arrived in her room, running full tilt up the stairs and through the hallways.

“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you.”

Isaiah too was afraid, of the judgment and stripping and violence he knew was coming (chapter three). He flashed back to the Exodus, when God had led his people escaping from slavery in Egypt with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13-14). These stories were part of the people of Israel’s identity, told and retold through the centuries to illustrate God’s care and protection when they were weak and vulnerable.

Have you experienced God as your hiding place? I would love to hear your story.