“God thunders marvelously with His voice; 

He does great things which we cannot comprehend.”

JOB 37:5

Sometimes the best encouragement comes through a true story, especially one that shows the mighty hand of God to be at work among us. Instead of the usual format, I’d like to encourage you this week with a true story. Each day the Encouragement will continue as the story unfolds. You don’t want to miss a single day!

I HATE FEAR

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

John 10:10

Story Continued from Monday…

Looking at the black widow spider, fear gripped my heart. Again.

“Tom!” I shouted. Breathing hard, and in a panic, I ran after him on the beach, shouting out words to describe what had just happened.

Instantly on alert, he turned and came toward me. “What’s wrong? What is it?” he shouted back.

Already on edge before getting to the beach, we were both tired and battle weary. We’d just returned from this year’s Nicaragua mission trip (April 7-14, 2015). The spiritual battle over this mission had been intense for a whole year. Though God continued to be mightily at work throughout 2014, so was the enemy.

I remember vividly the words whispered in my ear in February 2014, while we were still on the ground in Managua, when the 2015 mission was but a blur on the horizon. “This is the last time you’ll ever be here, you won’t come back again.” 

Whaaat? A sense of foreboding took root as I whispered, “But Lord, You are doing a mighty work here. You’re allowing us to be a part of it. Why? I don’t want it to end.” As I pondered that message over the next months, I wondered what horrible thing was going to happen to stop the work. Would I die? Would the world fall apart and make travel impossible? Was God through with me? Would I fall into some horrible sin that would bring defeat to the ministry?

Hindsight is 20/20. As the months went by, I pondered these worries. I sat on my sofa, mentally sucking my thumb, wondering at what I’d “heard.” As summer turned to fall, and fall to winter, I prayed and cried out to God to show me His plan. Nothing I read in Scripture lined up to the message whispered in my ear. As January 2015 approached, a faint hope broke through my reverie. “What if the voice I heard wasn’t God’s voice. What if it’s a threat from the enemy?  

“Well then,” I thought, ” if that’s the case, the Lord must have a mighty plan for Nicaragua! And the enemy is afraid for us to go back. Jesus did say the He comes to steal, kill, and destroy, so of course he’d want to stop God’s plan. But how can I be sure?” I mused.  

How could I tell the difference?  So, I began to pray and seek God’s voice and His confirmation. I turned to His Word because I knew the answer was there. And I knew His voice would never contradict His written Word.

Until tomorrow,

Your Traveling Partner,

Brenda