Broken In God’s Plan

“Will you come back and tell the rest of our family and neighbors the Gospel?” James and Aliza (the couple that gave me the bird) asked us. So one Saturday we walked back to their house where they eagerly waited for us. Slowly some of those they had invited arrived and Eric shared the Gospel with them.

James and Aliza have been faithfully attending the Phokera Bible study since trusting Christ as their Savior. Repeatedly they say that they have never heard this before. At one time they shared, “All we knew was to go to church and pray!” Everything is new and wonderful to them. How exciting it is to see things from the eyes of a new believer!

We have been treating burn wounds on a little girl named Iada. Her brother, Samson, almost always comes with her, and you can tell, is very protective of her. They live in a village further away which I hope we can eventually go to, but for now, I invited them to come to our children’s church on Sunday. They have come a couple Sundays now and Samson made a profession of faith! He recently asked for a Bible. We had been given some boxes of New Testaments. What a blessing it was to be able to give this young man a Bible! I’m praying that he continues to come and grow in the Lord.

My teeth have continued bothering me, causing me to make several trips to the city. Just when I think it’s all fixed, something else happens! We do not enjoy these trips as the travel up the mountain is very exhausting. But we were excited to find slushies at one of the stores in town!

I was thinking that it would be a while before I would need to make another trip…and the next trip would be just for fun. BUT God had other plans.

This week another filling fell out and was very painful. I wasn’t going to be able to put this one off for weeks. We called and they had an opening for the next day. I was not excited, and almost felt depressed and exhausted the rest of the day. Pastor Nelson, Chrissy (his wife), Sammy, and I would go.

Since we were not planning on doing much, we did not have to leave as early.  I was able to get school done and eat something, which I think helps prevent headaches as we go up the mountain.  

Up we went.  Once you start ascending the mountain, the road is not as wide.  On one side is the mountainside; on the other is a drop off. There are no railings, and only enough space for two cars – yet cars still pass on the mountain!  We have seen vehicles that have gone off the side and were caught on the side of the mountain by trees.  

I was just thinking how bad it would be to break down on that road when our van came to a stop. What was wrong? We weren’t quite sure. One of the vans filled with people we had passed earlier drove past us. One man mockingly yelled out, “What’s wrong, white person?”

After a few minutes, Pastor Nelson started the engine again.  It worked!  We were on the road again!  We didn’t get too far before it slowed to a stop again.  At least this time we were on a wider road without the mountain drop off.

There were a few kids sitting around where our van stopped.  As they stared at as, we waved and I told Sammy to hand them some tracts.  One of the kids excitedly ran back down to his house to give it to his mother.

The top of the two houses were barely visible behind a mound, but we could here the mom start yelling in Chichewa things like,

“Tell them your hungry!  Tell them to give you money!  Say this to them,” then she switched to English and said, “GIVE ME MONEY!”

We were dying laughing at the car.  Sammy said, “I’m tempted to yell back, ‘I’m hungry too!’”

Mrs. Chrissy found that hilarious.

A moment later, the mom came up over the other side yelling at us (because her kids wouldn’t).  Mrs. Chrissy told her, “We’re hungry too!”

The woman looked shocked for a moment and said, “I’ll give you water.  You give me money!”

Mrs. Chrissy replied, “You don’t feed your visitors?”

The woman, still a little shocked responded, “Water only.”

They went on for a while, and Sammy and I tried to contain our laughter.

A small crowd continued to gather, or at least stop by to see what all the commotion was about; and we were able to pass out more tracts. An elderly lady was one of the last to come. When Sammy handed her a tract, she said, “No. I want you to teach me.” Sammy told her Mrs. Chrissy would. Mrs. Chrissy was able to explain a little and give her other tracts, but then we were able to get the van started again. Because I was already running late for my appointment, we weren’t able to stay much longer. How I wish we could have sat and clearly presented the Gospel to her! I am reminded, it’s not about me! God does not need me to speak. He is capable of using His Word, found in the tracts, without me to work on her heart and bring her to salvation. I pray that through the little time we had with her and the Word of God that is on the tracts and John/Romans we gave her, she will come to know the Lord as her Savior.

As we continued on I told Pastor Nelson, “Maybe God had us come just for them…but God didn’t need to break my tooth and the vehicle to get me to go. I’m not a Jonah!” We all chuckled…but then Sammy reminded me of how much I dislike this trip and probably wouldn’t have made it if I didn’t have to. The Lord knows and has a purpose – even in my tooth pain. Sometimes God has to break us to use us. Thankfully, I think everything is fixed now and hopefully this time, it will be a while before I have to go. Maybe the next trip will just be because we want to go.