Miracles and Mayhem

Motorbike: Working When It Shouldn’t
On the way home from Assumane village last Wednesday, my motorbike stopped. I could not restart it. Then, I prayed and asked the Lord to please let it work, so that I didn’t have to walk through the muddy water on the road ahead. I didn’t want to ruin the clean pair of shoes I had on. (A few days previously, after riding through pouring rain and muddy puddles, I arrived home soaked with mud inside of my other pair of shoes). Suddenly, I was able to start my bike and drive about a kilometer (~1/2 mile). Just as soon as I passed the muddy water I’d have had to walk through, my motorbike stopped again. It wouldn’t restart. The Lord answered my prayer. A few days later, a mechanic checked my motorbike and found that two parts were broken, a coil and the ignition. We replaced a coil which allows the motorbike to start up and get power (throttle). But, the motorbike still didn’t work. As soon as we connected the new ignition, the motorbike started up and ran fine. The Lord had not only allowed me to drive past the muddy puddles, He had miraculously allowed me to drive my motorbike when two broken parts, the coil and ignition, should have made the motorbike impossible to run.

Delivered From Smoking: Without Expecting It
During Tuesday’s prison ministry, one of the prisoners gave this testimony. He had been smoking for years. Then, last November he was prayed for. He said, “I wasn’t asking God or looking to stop smoking. But, after being prayed for I lost all desire to smoke. I don’t even understand what happened. I haven’t smoked since that day. I just stopped.” The rest of the prisoners have confirmed his testimony. Hallelujah! Our God is great and mighty. There is no other Savior besides Him.

Mayhem: Our House Was Robbed Again
While we were at church last Sunday, someone broke through our steel barred windows. This time, they made out with a lot of things including our portable DVD player, 2 Leatherman tools, lots of kids DVDs and computer software, and more (and whatever else we might find out in the coming days). Fortunately, other things were secured elsewhere. That morning we had a feeling that something was going to happen. (Lord, help me to be more spiritually astute to your voice). The guard was at church with us because several people stayed around the center. Just like the first theft at our house last year, the dog started barking. Someone was told to check our house. But for whatever reason, the person never did. The very same day, I filed a report with the police, and I am still waiting for them to let me know that they started their investigation (they said they will). The day of the theft, Victo and I ministered to the person whom we suspected had a part in this robbery. He finally admitted that he was the one that had broken into our house several months ago. We already knew he had done it. But, he and another young man do not want to admit that they were involved in this robbery.

This time, it took a little more time to completely let some feelings and thoughts go concerning the break-in. “But, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). We needed His power to dispel discouragement, fear, anger and unforgiveness in any slight form. But, that’s not the power that the scripture above talks about. It’s more. His power enables us to be yielded and focused on the mighty love and faithfulness of God in any situation. We still trust God, and we know He was faithful during this theft. We felt a power (which is His love) freeing us from any feelings, thoughts, perspectives and fears that could have been established in our hearts (in even the slightest form). It is His power that keeps our hearts from being preoccupied and weighed down with thoughts of our loss, lack of diligent security, and wanting our stuff back. Instead, we actually have a peace just as though the robbery never happened. This situation is not ruling in our hearts, or determining our perspective on things. It’s His power (which is His love), that enables us to worship Jesus freely and unfettered from everything that was trying to hinder our hearts from the privilege of focusing entirely on Jesus Christ. He even restores joy and we are sincerely thanking God for what we do have in our house, and what wasn’t done during the theft.

Jesus Christ is Lord, alone. There is no other. He is our Lord who does the miraculous. He makes things work out, like my motorbike, which really shouldn’t work at all. He’s all powerful; delivering us (just like the man in prison) so we are free to live holy lives for Christ. We shared all these stories in one blog to remind you that even in the wonderful times, we still encounter mayhem (in its various forms) on the mission field. But, the choice is ours and yours. Through the power of His love, we can either serve Him in freedom and pure devotion, or we can unwittingly become servants or slaves held captive by the situations or actions of others against us. What will you choose? We choose Jesus!

We love because He [God] first loved us, (1 John 4:19, brackets added)

Tyren and Tiffany