Could your difficult situation actually be someone else’s answered prayer?
I’m not suggesting that someone is praying for you to have problems. But is it possible that God would ask you to go through something, so He could meet someone else’s need?
That’s what He did to meet Lisa Kappeler’s need.
Missionaries such as Lisa, who works among the Uriai people of Papua New Guinea, need to learn the language of the people they work with in depth. It’s not enough to string together a conversation. They need to know how people tell stories, talk about history and the future, and exhort others.
Finding an example of exhortation took two full days of searching, and ended only because she was in the right place at the right time.
While Lisa was visiting a tribal family’s home, one of the girls disobeyed her mom. The dad proceeded to tell his daughter why she should do as her mom told her.
“I was able to get that on tape and use that to analyze,” Lisa wrote. “The Lord provided what I needed when I needed."
Last week Lisa and her teammates among the Uriais are being evaluated on language learning and getting help with church planting, and Lisa received the go-ahead to start translating God’s Word into the Uriai language.
See how well that worked?
I know, I know, that’s not the way we want it to work. We want our lives – especially if we’re children of God – to be smooth and problem-free, and we seldom see difficulties as God’s will. We want to be the ones who get the answers, not the ones who provide them. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go through difficulties for the good of someone else.
Wait a minute … did I just admit that I don’t want to follow the example of Jesus?
He died … so we could live.
And your prayers, gifts to our ministry, encouragement and all the other things you do, are answers to our prayers. Thank you for being willing to follow the example of our Lord by giving of yourself so others can hear the Good News!
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